Artemis Fowl and the Forbidden Treasure
by ScarletPink
Summary: Set after Eternity Code. Artemis has forgotten the events that occured when he discovered that fairies do exist. What is the strange dream he keeps having and what is the Forbidden Treasure...
1. The Dream

**Artemis Fowl and the Forbidden Treasure**

Set after Eternity Code. Artemis has forgotten the events that occured when he discovered that fairies do exist. What is this strange dream he keeps having and what is the Forbidden Treasure...

**Disclaimer: **Yes, I don't own Artemis Fowl nor do I own any other character from the books, however much i wish i did...

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**Chapter**** 1: The Dream**

Artemis woke with a start. His dark hair was dishevelled and he was covered in a thick layer of sweat. He turned and groped around for his alarm clock. The fluorescent green digits blinded him as he squinted to read the time. 4 am. Sighing he rolled back over. His alarm wouldn't sound for another few hours. Staring at the ceiling which he couldn't quite make out in the darkness he tried to remember what had happened in the dream he had being having only moments before.

It was the same dream that he had been having every night this week. He could vividly remember being cold. Ice surrounded him and he shivered in the dead of night. Every time he had the dream he felt alone. He would walk for a while. Trudging through thick snow. Eventually he would reach a ravine and then he would see them. Three other figures. Two seemed to be trapped under a ridge and the other was talking to them through the icy bars of their trap. He froze as he watched them trying to decide the best way to escape. Looking up he saw to his amazement that there were three creatures hovering in the air. He couldn't make out what they were through the darkness, but he was sure that they were unpleasant, because he could see the pale moonlight reflected from what seemed to be guns.

He tried to make out who the other people were through the haze of night. One of the trapped men could easily see was his own bodyguard Butler. He had never met another man his size, but he seemed to be lying on the icy ground. If Butler was unconscious it was never a good sign. He turned his attention to the other two figures with Butler. The other trapped figure had his back to him and he couldn't work out who he was. He looked strangely small, but somewhere deep in the back of his mind Artemis was sure that he knew him.

He then turned to the other figure. He was sure this was a female as her form was so dainty and she moved with a certain grace, but she looked too small to be a woman and she seemed too out of proportion to be a child. A tingling somewhere in the depths of his mind was longing to tell him who this figure was, but whenever it was close it seemed to freeze up. Artemis frowned. To him, this seemed to be a bizarre situation. He sat in the snow trying to make sense of it. He watched the two small people urgently discussing their options. Then he thought maybe he should help these people after all Butler was his bodyguard and these people were his friends. _Friends?_ He thought, _since when did I have friends? What am I talking about?__I don't even know who these people are._ It was then that the three hovering creatures decided to descend a bit to see what was going on. Artemis jumped to his feet. He had to warn them that they were coming. It was at that exact moment every time that his surroundings seemed to spin and with a jolt he was riding in what looked like a carriage in a train.

Again he looked around puzzled. A hatch was hanging open in the ceiling and he had a feeling that Butler had climbed onto the roof of the train to check on their mysterious enemies. He looked around in the carriage the small man was sitting a short way away from the female, with his back to Artemis, holding his eye. The female was lying with her back to him. Artemis stared through the shadows and saw blood seeping from her form through a hole where one of her fingers had been. He gasped and scrambled over to help her. A deep desire to find out who she was consumed him, the sight of her face would surely remind him. He gently turned her onto her back. Her short auburn hair was lying delicately across her face, just hiding her features. Gently he reached out to sweep it away. It seemed like an eternity had passed before his hand finally reached her silky hair. He softly brushed the hair from her face and…

He groaned. The dream always ended there. He never found out this person's identity. His eyes were still focused on the seemingly non-existant ceiling. His eyes had partially adjusted to the light while he was thinking and he could vaguely see the patterns that the gap in his curtains painted upon the white backdrop. He rolled over and shut his eyes. Wanting to sleep. Willing the dream to return. Wanting to see the end. He tried to empty his mind. To coax sleep to him quicker. However hard he tried he couldn't get the vivid auburn out of his head. Eventually he gave up and simply let the colour wash him back into a deep sleep.

* * *

When he woke the next day Artemis had the biggest frown he could have possibly had on his face. Much to his disappointment the dream hadn't returned to him and he was no closer to peering into the face of the mysterious person. He tapped the alarm clock as it beckoned him to get up and pulled himself out of bed. As he attempted to get up he tripped over a part of his duvet that was still wrapped around his leg from the night before when he was rolling around. He landed with a thud on the floor and groaned. Then as he struggled to pull the duvet from his leg and began to stand up there was a knock at the door. 

"Arty darling?" his mother's voice drifted in through the polished oak wood. "Are you alright? I heard a crash."

"I'm fine mother," replied Artemis, brushing himself down and heading to the door to his en suite. "I just knocked something over."

"Alright but make sure you are ready for breakfast soon. You know this is an important day for your father."

Artemis internally groaned as he began to brush his teeth. With all this nonsense with a dream he had forgotten that his father was having an extremely important meeting with some of his clients today to discuss a potential business deal. Of course Artemis would have to meet these people and act as though he was interested when they tried to teach him things that he had taught himself at the age of five. _G_r_eat,_ he thought, _a whole day wasted on these pompous old men when I could be continuing with the plan._

A smirk played on Artemis' lips. This was no doubt the best plan he had ever concocted and was sure to put his family back on the world's rich list. Not only that. He was potentially revealing a secret of more than eleven thousand years.

He patted down his hair that recently seemed to grow less tidy everyday and more resistant to his attempts to tame it. He heard his mother calling him again from downstairs. His hair would have to do. He walked into his impeccably tidy room and opened his wardrobe pulling out a tailor made suit and tie from the extensive collection hanging there. As he put it on he inspected himself in the mirror in his wardrobe door. He looked perfect for the upcoming meeting and suspected that this way the so called wiser men may treat him with a bit more respect.

He walked out of his room and down to the huge kitchen where his mother was waiting for him with breakfast and a smile. Her smile turned to a frown when she saw Artemis come in.

"Arty what are you wearing? How many times do I have to tell you that your father has to dress smartly for his meetings, but you don't? You should be wearing normal clothes."

"These are my normal clothes." Artemis replied frostily as he sat down opposite his mother and helped himself to some toast. "I merely wish to set a good impression for father."

Her mother shook her head. "At least take that tie off."

"Mother I am absolutely fine as I am."

His mother got up and walked around the table to where he was sitting. When she reached him she smiled and in one swift manoeuvre had his tie in her hands.

"Mother…"

"Arty you aren't a grown man yet and I wish you would enjoy your childhood while it still lasts"

She undid his top button and with a look of slight approval she moved back around to the other side of the table and sat down.

Artemis finished his toast and headed back upstairs. His brain was ticking trying to work out how he could improve his already brilliant plan. He sat at his computer and opened up some documents which were very hard to find if you didn't know where to look. His new plan lay open in all its glory in front of him. The second smirk in an already short day appeared on his pale face, but it was soon wiped away by a call from his mother telling him to come down, his father's guests were arriving. Artemis sighed and closed his plans. This was going to be very long day.

* * *

What seemed like an eternity later Artemis was sitting back at his computer. It had been a very long afternoon. He had spent most of it either sitting listening to one of his father's clients telling him all about their not so ingenious business ideas and telling him that they hoped he would use some of their ideas to help him in the future (he grimaced at the thought) or sitting with his mother in the kitchen waiting for the 'private' part of the meeting to finish so he could say goodbye to the arrogant men, whilst listening to his mother ranting about how he should be enjoying his childhood instead of worrying about business all the time. He had of course bugged this part of the meeting, but when he played it back there was nothing of real importance mentioned. 

He leant back in his designer chair and sighed. He was bored of his mother and father controlling his life and had managed more than alright without them. He now wasn't sure whether he was happy that his father had miraculously turned up at a hospital in Helsinki or that this had meant his mother's depression was cured. They seemed to keep tabs on him day and night and he wasn't pleased.

He decided to escape from it all and indulge himself in a game of chess. That always cheered him up; because of course he never lost. He began a game with a so called expert player. However he soon discovered that this particular expert must be mistaken. He won the game in six moves. A technique people had named the Bashkir Manoeuvre after he performed it under the particular alias of Stefan Bashkir with his Uncle Constantin. Turning off his computer he was for once frustrated with his own genius which had prevented him from escaping the real world for a moment. He sat wondering what he should do next. A visit to Butler to inform him of the items he would be required to bring on his latest mission and also of the fact that they would be leaving at seven tomorrow morning seemed to be the best option. However first he decided to tell his parents about his departure.

* * *

He had already come up with a story about a chess championship tournament that would be conveniently be taking place on the other side of the world, so that they would be able to leave for a longer period of time. He had even printed some fake information about the tournament. Not that he thought he would need it. His mother would be glad that he was actually going to meet some real people instead of always playing online and his father would probably say nothing. Ever since he had returned Artemis had the feeling that he didn't think he could tell him what to do because he hadn't been there for a considerable amount of time. 

He walked down the colossal staircase that lead to the main entrance of Fowl Manor and turned as if to go into one of the reception rooms, but he paused as he heard voices.

"… never seems to be doing anything with children of his own age. I'm just worried that his childhood will pass him by and he will never have a second chance at it." That was unmistakably his mother's voice. A deeper voice replied, the voice of his father.

"But Angeline, it is his decision. You have told him a thousand times the way you feel about his behaviour and he never listens. You should learn to just accept that he isn't going to change. He obviously doesn't feel the need to."

"But I just wish that sometime he would find some friends. The only friends he really has are Butler and Juliet, and they are just his bodyguards. Maybe we should send him away to a camp. Let him meet some people. I definitely think we should remove him from that dreadful school it obviously isn't helping his social skills. I think we should let him go to a school where he can live at home. Maybe it will make him relax more."

Silence filled the room. Artemis was actually smiling. It was the first smile for a long time. He hated his school it was so restrictive and now he knew his mother would definitely let him go to the chess tournament. He gently opened the door and walked inside.

"Oh Arty, I was just going to send Juliet to fetch you. We need to talk to you about something."

Artemis could tell that his father didn't want to talk to him about something. That he would rather be anywhere else but here.

"We decided" his mother continued despite the fact that her husband obviously disagreed with the situation. "That you should move to a different school closer to home." Artemis plastered a fake expression of surprise on his face. "We also decided that you should maybe go away for a while and spend some time with people of your own age whilst we sort out the transfer of schools." His mother smiled at him reassuringly.

He grinned back. "Well that is very convenient, because I was just about to ask you whether I could attend this." Artemis handed his mother the fake leaflet. "I would have to leave tomorrow, but if I'm transferring schools that should be fine shouldn't it?"

It took a minute for Angeline to read the leaflet before she replied. "Well, this sounds wonderful darling. Of course you can go. Have you told Butler yet? He will need to prepare for the trip."

"No. I thought I should ask for your permission first. I shall of course enlighten him now though."

"Good. Well off you go then." His mother was beaming at him, obviously glad that he wasn't as emotionally stunted as she thought. He glanced at his father. He didn't seem so pleased and was pointedly looking anywhere but at Artemis.

He left the room and was halfway up the stairs before he heard his parent's voices gradually rising as they argued about him. He chose to ignore it. There were more important things to worry about, plus he had an inkling that his mother would win and now he was rather hoping that he would be able to leave that awful school. He hurried up another floor to the gym where he knew Butler would be. For a few weeks now Butler had been less agile than he used to be. This had lead to him spending more and more time in the gym trying to rework his muscles whilst Artemis devised a new scheme.

He reached the set of double doors which no doubt once would have lead to an immense library, but which had now been converted into a state of the art gym for the Butlers to use in their leisure time. The Fowl's didn't need four libraries anyway. Pushing open the door he found Butler and Juliet immersed in combat on the floor mat that took up half of the room. He walked in quietly. Neither of them noticed him enter. He sat in the lotus position on the floor meditating. Running the plan through his mind. Anticipating every outcome that was possible. But nothing could have prepared him for the truth.

Five minutes later Juliet had Butler pinned to the floor and they both decided to take a break and have a drink. Juliet was first to notice Artemis sitting by the door.

"We didn't hear you come in." she said turning to Artemis who had come out of his meditative state. "You should have said something."

"There was no point. I could see you were nearly finished and I thought I could use the time to contemplate on my plan."

Juliet was unfazed by him talking like this. She was used to it after all.

"Oh, fair enough. So what is it you wanted anyway?"

"I need to speak to both of you. It is imperative that we leave tomorrow and I need to inform you both of what this is about."

Butler smiled. At last, a chance to earn his keep. Juliet bounced up and down in anticipation. Her first journey with Artemis and Butler. Or so she thought, the other time had been wiped from her memory.

"I will meet you in my study in one hour. We will be leaving early tomorrow, so you should probably start packing now, so you can rest well later."

Butler and Juliet nodded in unison. They knew that Artemis had only suggested they do this, but his tone of voice had the same effect on everyone. It made people want to follow his every word.

"Excellent." Artemis smirked and with that he left the room, the bulky doors banging shut behind him.

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Yay! Chapter 1 complete... 

Please Review :D


	2. Breaking and Entering

Thanks to Verity Strange and some crazy girl who like pie for reviewing :D

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own them...

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**Chapter 2: Breaking and Entering**

It had been three months since Holly had last seen Artemis Fowl, but the thought of that day still haunted her. She still remembered his hurt expression as he said to her "If you take away the memories and influences of the People, I might become that person again. Is that what you really want?" She remembered how she felt when Commander Root told her to do as she was told and just mesmerise him. She remembered the immense feeling of guilt as she lied to Artemis under the mesmer telling him that this would be their little secret and she remembered the way she felt as she flew to Tara after the mind wipe. She still felt that way now. It was sorrow. Grieving, because she had lost a friend. She would have done anything to deny it before, but now it was clear that she had lost one of the only real friends she had. Shaking her head brought herself out of her daydream for what seemed like the billionth time that day alone.

She was on her way to work on what seemed like another pointless day. Ever since Artemis had been mind wiped her job felt so boring. There was no threat of him suddenly plunging the fairy kind into a cross species war, so the anticipation and excitement had gone. She tried hard not to look at it that way and tried to think that everything was normal, just like it had been before Artemis entered their lives, but now she had experienced life with him around she didn't want to go back to the way it was before. It was a weird feeling. One she hadn't felt before. Twice she had decided to go and tell him everything, to reawaken his memories. The first time she had only made it as far as the shuttle port, but the second she made it all the way to the surface before realising that telling him would mean the end of her career altogether.

She shook her head again. Currently she was walking to LEP headquarters along one of the main magnastrips in the city. _This is the same magnastrip that me and Grub were on when the city went into lockdown, _She thought, _but it turned out just to be Artemis. _She screeched out loud as she realised she was thinking about Artemis again. This caused a few people around her to jump with fright. One elf dropped all of her shopping onto the floor. Holly tried to help her pick it up, but it was obvious that she thought Holly was deranged. She quickly scooped her shopping up and scurried away. _Great, now people think I'm crazy as well. _

She had reached LEP headquarters by now and there were the usual gang of fairies protesting about something stupid outside. Before she even reached them she set her LEP helmet to shut out all noise from outside. The people around her all pushed to ask her questions. She could see at least a dozen goblins moving their mouths in an irate way, obviously complaining. She grinned, so glad she couldn't hear them. Entering the lobby of the police station, she was pleased to see Capital Trouble Kelp of LEP Retrieval one standing just beyond the doors. Ever since all of this Artemis Fowl business she considered Trouble to be a good friend of hers, so she was worried when she saw he was frowning. Since she considered herself such a good friend of his she knew it was never a good sign if he was annoyed.

"Holly!" he exclaimed as she walked through the doors, "I'm so glad you're here. I thought maybe you weren't coming today, I've been waiting for ages."

"But I'm not even late! I came in fifteen minutes early because I still have some paperwork to finish."

"Oh, sorry." Trouble said, and to Holly's surprise he was blushing. "It must be all of this excitement"

"What's going on?"

"Well there has been another break in." Holly frowned this was becoming a serious issue recently.

"It gets worse," said Trouble seeing the look on Holly's face. _Worse? How can it be worse?_

"I know what you're thinking. I was thinking it too when Commander Root told me, but it does. Guess where the break in was."

"Where?" Holly felt very uneasy now.

"Right here."

"What? How? Foaly wouldn't let it!"

"That's what I thought too. But it seems to be an inside job. Someone is using their position in the LEP to help themselves to some information and obviously to avoid their own capture."

Holly couldn't believe it. She must be dreaming. Someone inside? It couldn't be.

"Do we have any idea who it might be?"

"Well that's the thing. Last night only two people used their cards to get into the building. One was Chix Verbil."

"Well it's not likely to be him is it?" Seeing the anxiety in his face she continued, "So who's the other person?"

"Commander Root"

"Oh."

Things were not looking good for Chix. If Root was the only other person to enter the building they could be 99.99 sure that it wasn't him and if it turned out to be the other 0.01, their fairy life was over. They needed Root on their side and if he had gone over to the other side it was likely this was going to be very well planned and they had a very, very small chance of stopping him, like trying to use an ice cube to stop the Titanic.

"Okay, so two things. One, what exactly happened here then and two, why were you so glad to see me? Things seem to be under control here."

Gradually people had been entering the police station and now it wasn't as deserted as before.

"Come with me and I'll tell you"

Trouble turned and led Holly into his office at the end of the corridor. They entered and he beckoned her to a chair opposite his own. Holly was very apprehensive. By the look on Trouble's face things were not going very well.

"Well," he said, "I might as well just tell you straight." Holly nodded. "After you rescued the C Cube from the Needle we locked it up as you very well know." She nodded again, not daring to speak so she could hear exactly what was going on. "Well, it was supposedly in a top security vault made by Foaly himself and so naturally everyone assumed it would be safe there. In actuality it wasn't." Holly gasped.  
"What I'm trying to say is the C Cube was stolen."

"What? You can't be serious? Why didn't they just destroy it when they had the chance?"

"Well, the thing is, they couldn't."

"What?" Holly said for what she felt was the millionth time.

"It seemed that when Artemis created it he made sure that it couldn't possibly be destroyed and to make matters even worse they couldn't break the Eternity Code he had created to even shut it down. So they were forced to protect it."

"But then it doesn't matter. That means the only person that can open it is Artemis and even if someone was going to try to use him to help them he wouldn't. His memory would return. He wouldn't betray us." Trouble grimaced.

"But it's not as simple as that. When they couldn't break into it they didn't give up. The Council didn't trust that if Artemis ever did remember he wouldn't steal it back, so…"

"But he wouldn't. He would never do…"

"I believe you Holly, but you know what the Council are like. Anything that can endanger any of their gold and they will make sure that that can never happen again. They didn't know Artemis like you did. They only knew him as the boy that kidnapped you and held you for ransom taking lots of their precious gold with him. They didn't know him near the end. They didn't know he had changed."

"So what did they do?"

"They decided that Foaly should attempt to crack the code by any means possible. So he planted a throat mike on Artemis one night two months ago and began to record his every word so he could use his voice to activate the cube."

"But isn't that a bit risky? What if he had found the mike?"

"He couldn't have. Foaly has developed it since the last time you saw it. Now it's so thin that the only way you could possibly know it was there would be to watch someone put it on you or have someone tell you, and obviously no one was about to tell him."

"Okay, so then what happened?"

"Well Foaly managed to create the whole language from the different sounds Artemis made when he spoke. It took a lot of Foaly's time. You know Artemis doesn't talk a great deal."

It was all clicking into place. She had been wondering why Foaly had not wanted to see her so much lately, but now she understood. It wasn't that he didn't want to; he just didn't have the time. She had pretended that she didn't care, but losing two friends in one go was ten times worse than losing one. Especially when she was running out of them. Relieved that this wasn't the case, she turned her attention back to Trouble who was still talking.

"…simple task of using the recorded language to activate the C Cube and use it for whatever he wished. He couldn't figure out the commands for a while though. It wasn't until late last night that he managed to activate it at all. So today was going to be the day that he used it to deactivate itself. The only way to destroy it."

"But now it's been stolen and let me guess. The person that stole it also stole the controls for it."

"The whole language." Trouble looked forlorn. "They can technically use it for anything which means we are in deep trouble."

"So what are we going to do about it?"

"Well that's where you come in Captain. As I'm sure you have already guessed we are going to go and question Chix." _Well I should hope so _she thought. "But we want you to do it." Trouble gazed at Holly intently.

"Me? Why?"

"Well Chix as always has a soft spot for you, ever since you rescued him he thinks you are in love with him or something." Trouble looked away and blushed for the second time since he had met Holly that morning.

"Oh, sure." She said, seeing how uncomfortable Trouble looked, but not knowing why . It unnerved her. She wanted this meeting to end now.

"You ready to go then?" He said recovering slightly.

"Yeah I'm sure the paperwork can wait until later."

"Okay, Grub will be going with you, sorry but he was the only person available."

"That's alright, I can handle him." said Holly, getting up and opening the door to leave. She was about to close it on the other side when she heard Trouble speak again.

"Holly."

"Yeah."

"Thanks, I would've gone myself but Root thought it best that you went."

"Anytime. Where is he today?"

"Well Foaly somehow screwed up. He wanted some time to gloat before he had to get down to serious business. He has nothing to do until you get back so he thought he should use his time wisely"

"Ah, okay." She started to close the door.

"Oh and Holly?"

"Yes?"

"Don't worry about the paperwork I'll finish it for you." He blushed again and Holly quickly muttered thanks and shut the door. _What's wrong with him today?_ She thought and exited the building to join her _favourite_ partner Grub.

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach Chix's flat. They knocked on his door and after a moment he answered.

"Holly," he smiled, "what are you doing here? Can't resist me can you?"

"Now is no time to joke Chix we are here to ask you a few questions." She pushed past him and Chix frowned.

"I wasn't joking," he muttered when she was just out of earshot.

They sat down in Chix's small living room on a considerably old sofa. He sat opposite them in an equally old armchair.

"So what do you want?" he asked still scowling from their entrance.

"We need to ask you a few questions."

"I know that," he said turning to look at Grub for a better answer.

"Don't look at me," he said in response, "Holly won't tell me anything. Said I would just have to find out when I got here and Trouble was even worse. He just pushed me out of his office and slammed his door in my face." Chix turned back to Holly.

"So what are you here for then?"

"Well we need to know where you were yesterday evening."

"He was with me," said Grub, "we went out last night. It was the only day this week that we are both not working so we decided to go out. If anyone bothered to tell me anything I would have told you earlier."

"Is that true?" said Holly ignoring Grub's complaints about telling mummy and turning back to Chix.

"Yeah, I'm actually glad I get the day off today. That really wore me out." Chix grinned at Grub.

"Yeah, that was so cool, wait til we tell…"

"Can you two shut up?" Holly shouted and both of them immediately went quiet. "Chix can you get me your LEP access card."

"Sure," said Chix, "Hold on."

He got up and left the room. Holly's head was spinning. If it wasn't Root and wasn't Chix then who was it? She looked up as Chix entered the room again, empty handed.

"Problem?" she asked.

"I can't find it. I'm sure I left it in here."

"When was the last time you used it?"

"Yesterday afternoon, when my shift finished."

"And you haven't seen it since?"

"Well…no."

"Let me check."

Holly got up and searched the other room where Chix thought he had left it. It was quite empty. She wasn't surprised. Lower officers in the LEP received lousy pay. She looked around anyway, but it was obvious that the card wasn't there. She walked back into the other room and told the other two that they were leaving. The three of them headed back to LEP Headquarters. Holly was deep in thought. If it wasn't Chix or Root who was it?

_Who could it be? _She thought._ Well it definitely can't be Artemis, Foaly would know if he knew anything about the People again. Who else could it be? It could potentially be anyone, all they had to do was steal Chix's card. Who would want to though? It couldn't be Opal she's in prison. Maybe this is all part of her plan to escape. How could it be though? And how can I think with this racket?_

Chix and Grub were animatedly discussing their outing the night before. They had gradually got louder and louder until the whole car was filled with noise, not the best conditions to try to think.

"Hey, both of you shut up!" she said annoyed that they had interrupted her thought.

"You can't tell me to shut up, I'm your partner. Wait until I tell mummy about this."

Holly rolled her eyes and spent the next ten minutes trying to think whilst Grub moaned about mummy and making a complaint. They pulled up to the station, went inside and made their way to Commander Root's office. Holly knocked on the door.

"What?" Commander Root shouted from inside.

Holly opened the door just to be met by toxic fumes from his fungus cigar.

"Commander?"

"Captain, did you go to visit Chix?"

"Yeah, he's here. But he's lost his pass card and Grub was with him last night at the time that it happened so it can't be him. Didn't we get anyone on camera?"

"As a matter of fact we did. It looks like it was Chix..." Chix pushed past Holly into the room.

"It can't have been me though. I was with Grub and I've lost my pass card." Root turned a light shade of beetroot.

"Did I say you could interrupt?" Chix cringed and moved back behind Holly like she was a fairy shield against him. "As I was saying before I was interrupted," he glared at Chix who edged further backwards, "it looks like it was Chix on camera, but we know that it wasn't. The main clue is that the fake Chix doesn't have wings or any wing like shapes underneath his suit so that means it wasn't him."

"So what are we going to do then?" Holly said. Root gestured for the others to leave. "Guys?" she turned around and pointed towards the door. They mumbled as they left. Holly was sure she heard Grub say mummy. Root gestured at the chair opposite his desk and Holly sat down.

"So it's not Chix. But who could it be that would be able to create the technology to disguise someone as Chix and would be able to break into his house and steal his pass card without him noticing?" He looked intently at Holly.

"It sounds like something Fowl would be capable of, but he still doesn't remember does he?"

"No. Foaly makes sure that he doesn't come into contact with any magical creatures or technology. He created some sort of sensor. So we would know if he had talked to some fairies about this."

"Well then the only other person I can think of is Opal. But she's in prison isn't she?"

"Yes," he replied, "but I wouldn't put anything past her."

"So we need to go check her out?"

"I'm afraid so." Holly made a face, "She's held in Howler's Peak."

"I know. So who's going with me?"

"I think Captain Kelp is going to come with you. We haven't told many people about the incident, because we know it could be an inside job and we don't want people to know we are onto them. So, we have only told people we trust, and Captain Kelp is the only available officer."

"Cool." Holly was glad it was him, they were good friends ever since all of the Artemis Fowl incidents.

"Excuse me?" Root, who had returned to a natural colour, had suddenly become purple again.

"I mean…yes Commander."

"That's better, now off you go."

Holly got up and quickly exited the room before Root could criticise her again.

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:D Thanks for reading... 


	3. Stuck Around

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own them

* * *

**Chapter 3: Stuck Around**

Artemis, Butler and Juliet were on the Fowl's private plane. His parents, well his mother more than his father, had lent him it to travel to America where he was supposedly going to a fake chess tournament. They were in fact flying to an airport near the position that his submarine was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. But why were they going to such a desolate place? The answer was simple.

Artemis had spent an hour explaining to Butler and Juliet his plan. At first they had both thought he was crazy, which was a rare occurrence. But then he continued to explain his research and his evidence. Gradually they became more and more convinced until they were both so excited to leave they were practically out of the door already. Neither of them could sleep as they lay dreaming of the latest adventure.

Artemis was a different story. He slept, but that same dream returned to him in his sleep. The ice. The train. The unknown figure. This time he actually managed to glance at the face before he was brought back to reality. He didn't have time to scan the whole face, but he had picked out the eyes. Piercing hazel eyes that seemed to see right into his soul. Before he even had time to think he was back in a dreamless sleep. His mind knew he needed rest.

* * *

At seven the next morning the three of them were ready to leave and were travelling to the airport where their plane was waiting. Juliet flew the plane to a small private airport on the outskirts of Paris. Before their main mission they had a few other things to do. They got into the hired Mercedes and drove to the five star hotel Artemis had booked. Neither Juliet nor Butler dared to talk; scared to bring Artemis from the trance he was in checking that every part of the plan was foolproof. 

By the time they left the hotel it was already midday. Artemis had scheduled the meeting with his contact at one thirty exactly and it was to take place in a restaurant on the bank of the river. It was, in Artemis's opinion, which was always right, the best place to meet for something like this. It was public so it was highly unlikely that anyone would try to attack them with so many witnesses. They were meeting with this man for the ship. He was expecting to be paid half of the money at the meeting. Artemis had no doubt that he would have his own protection and for that reason he had brought both of the Butlers with him. He decided that Butler should be with him, he was the more intimidating of the two. Juliet would sit at a nearby table and if anything happened she was armed and ready to intervene.

Juliet went in first and sat on a table outside the restaurant. She looked at down the river and picked out the Eiffel Tower in the distance. She had to act like a tourist. Five minutes later Artemis and Butler walked to another table outside the restaurant and sat down without so much as a glance at Juliet. She looked around and noticed that three men were coming in their direction. One was short and thin he was wearing a tailor made suit to make him look more intimidating. It didn't work. The other two were obviously his muscle. They looked strong and intimidating, but also like complete idiots. She looked around the restaurant and noticed that there was only one old lady sitting in the corner.

The man sat down at Artemis's table. One of his men sat, the other stood behind him.

"Hello, General," said Artemis in his most icy tone.

"Master Fowl, a pleasure as always."

"So can you deliver what we came for?"

"Of course. One military submarine. Stationed just off the west coast of Ireland"

"Excellent"

"When do you need it?"

"Three days, the exact location is written here." Artemis handed him a piece of paper.

"OK, now the small matter of the bill."

"Half now, half when we have finished with the submarine, as we agreed."

The General nodded. Artemis got out his laptop.

"I'll start the transfer now."

They watched as the amount in Artemis's bank account shrank and the amount in the General's grew.

"If anything happens to the submarine I will be forced to pay for it and that will of course mean that you will pay for it."

"Of course. And if anything should happen to me three days after the agreed return of the submarine an email will be set to you containing an account number and password which will contain the amount that the submarine is worth."

"Good."

After a minute the transfer was complete.

"It will be in position there in three days."

"Yes. Goodbye." Artemis stood and they shook hands.

The General and his henchmen left and Artemis sat back down.

"Artemis?" said Butler, wondering whether it was safe for him to ask him anything.

"Yes Butler?"

"Well I was wondering, why didn't he just make you pay all of the money now?"

"Because, he knows that if he provides us with this sort of equipment professionally, then we will come to him again in future."

"Oh, of course."

Juliet came over to their table and sat down. They had lunch and headed back to the hotel where Artemis checked they had everything ready for a different plan, tomorrow.

* * *

The next day Artemis woke up early in the same cold sweat he was used to by now. He thought nothing of it. He had bigger things to sort out. He got ready in his normal suit and sat down in the living room of their luxury penthouse apartment. At eight the three of them left in the hired car and parked outside a seemingly rundown warehouse on the outskirts of Paris. Artemis opened his laptop and began to hack into the overly protective security system on the broken building. 

"We have cameras on every inch of flooring and guards on a continual rota. So Juliet make sure that you do not touch the floor under any circumstances." She nodded.

"Here is your headset so I can feed you information on guards and you can reply if you are in trouble. Also here are your suction pads to keep you off of the floor."

She nodded and attached them to her gloves and shoes.

"When you are inside I will remote activate the suction pads and you will then be able to use them. Enter through the barbed wire with these," he handed her wire cutters, "and make sure you get to the door as quickly as possible. When you get there use this," he handed her another gadget, "on the wires inside the keypad and it will work out the code for you."

"I know Artemis you've told me all of this before when we were back at the Manor."

"It is better to be over prepared than under prepared" he retorted with ease. "Walk along the pavement until I tell you that you are out of view of the cameras"

"I know"

She sighed and got out of the car heading for the barbed wire. This part was no problem. There were no guards patrolling to make sure that suspicion wasn't aroused by normal passers-by.

She walked along the pavement until she heard Artemis tell her to stop, then she walked up to the wire and clipped a whole big enough to crawl through.

"Am I clear?" she said.

"Yes, go now, quickly."

She rushed over to the door and reached the keypad. She unscrewed the front with the screwdriver on her penknife and took it off. Then she clipped the code breaker to the wires inside and within seconds the code appeared on the screen. She unclipped it and screwed the front back on.

"6…6…9…3…5" she muttered as she input the numbers. The red light on the keypad flashed green and she opened the door.

"Excellent," Artemis said making her jump as the voice came out of nowhere. She had been so busy concentrating, she completely forgot about the headset. "So," Artemis continued, "go over to the wall I'm going to turn on the suction pads."

She crept over to the wall and felt her feet stick to the ground. Placing her hands on the wall she felt them immediately stick. Slowly she scaled the wall and then hung from the ceiling.

"OK, I'm up."

"Good, move up this corridor. There are no guards anywhere near you so don't worry about that. However there are three cameras in a row on your left. Can you see them?"

She hung her head upside-down. "Yeah I see them. What do I do?"

You need to pass over them. Otherwise they might see you hanging on the other sections of the roof."

"That's a really thin gap though."

"You can fit. I checked before I thought of this method."

"Oh, OK."

She started moving. Just as she was about to go over the top of the first camera she heard Artemis.

"Juliet go back, quickly."

"She moved as fast as she could further down the corridor.

"What?" she whispered in the quietest voice she could muster.

"Your hair."

"What about my hair?"

"It's hanging down. You didn't put the hat on I gave you. See, I knew I should have run through it with you again properly."

"No it's fine," said Juliet feeling slightly stupid that she had forgotten something so simple even though she had assured Artemis that she had remembered everything. She crawled back down the wall and told Artemis to turn the suction pads off. Rummaging around in her pocket she felt for the hat and put it on, making sure all of her hair was tucked inside it.

"OK, on again." She felt them turn on and slowly climbed back up the wall. She passed over all of the cameras surprisingly easily, as they were all tilted slightly downwards and reached the end of the corridor.

"I'm at the end."

"Now turn left and keep to the side with the cameras." She looked upside-down again. "OK"

She kept to the side with the cameras until she came to a corridor leading off that side.

"I'm nearly at a turning."

"You see there is a camera on the other side pointing down that corridor?" She looked.

"Yeah."

"You need to cross to the other side now before you get into its view and go over it. Then continue down this corridor until you get to a right turning." She did this with ease, now used to the weird sensation of hanging upside-down and could manoeuvre herself quite well.

"I'm there."

"You see the door on your left?"

"Yeah."

"Go in there. There is a guard coming. Do you think you could drop to the ground from the ceiling without making any noise?"

"Yeah."

"Good, when I say, the suction pads will go off and you will drop to the floor."

"OK."

"On three. One…two…three" He flicked the switch and Juliet dropped soundlessly just as she had said she would. She rushed to the door and went inside. . It was dark inside but as she looked around it appeared that she was inside what looked like a broom cupboard. _How clichéd,_ she thought.

"I'm inside."

"Look up."

She looked up and there it was. The entrance into an air vent. Artemis had weighed the chances of trying to get to the lab in the air vents against the chances of using the suction pads. The air vent chances were much higher. She looked around and saw some crates piled up in the corner of the room.

"Artemis," she whispered, "is it alright if I move around some crates to climb up there?"

"Why," he replied loudly in her ear, "that will just slow the process down and make an excessive amount of noise. We will use the suction pads, as I intended to from the beginning."

Juliet cursed herself again. He had said that to her already, she was obviously too cocky for her own good. Madame Ko was right not to trust her yet.

"Juliet?" she heard Artemis's voice somewhere in her mind. _Focus,_ she thought, _stay focused._

"Yeah I'm ready," she placed her hands on the walls and felt the familiar feeling of the pads sticking.

She made her way to the vent and prised the top from it, placing it on top of the stacked crates. Climbing into the freshly made hole was just as easy as she had suspected it would be.

"Artemis? You can turn them off now. I'm inside the flat bits."

She felt the attraction of her hands towards the wall fade and began to slide along the vent. Things went smoothly from then on. She would occasionally reach a hole in the floor where the vents led off into different rooms, but she just simply asked Artemis if this was the right way and if it wasn't she climbed over it with the suction pads.

"Artemis? I'm at the next hole. Is this it?" she started to move into a position to climb over it when she heard Artemis reply.

"Yes, that is it Juliet. I'm going to turn on the suction pads and I need you to climb down slowly. When you get to the bottom you need to look through the grill and check that on the wall to your right there is a fire extinguisher otherwise you've gone the wrong way."

"OK."

She slowly descended down the vent and eventually found herself staring at a metal grill. She looked to her right and there it was.

"Artemis," she said, "I see it."

"Juliet you have to be much quieter, there is a guard close to where you are. He heard you. He's coming your way. You need to climb back up so that he can't see you in the darkness."

This was easier said than done. She had come down the vent face first so now it was virtually impossible to climb a long way back. She had the upper body strength to go further than any normal person could manage easily, which should have been far enough, but now all of her blood was rushing to her brain and it was making her light-headed. Her only option was trying to turn around, which in this space was pretty hopeless. She tried it anyway. Placing her hands on the metal opposite her she bent into a banana shape. It was extremely uncomfortable. She tried to move her legs down so that she could straighten up, but she was too big for the small space. She tried to move her hands back down, but now her arms seemed to be wedged. She was sure that if she moved something it was bound to break.

"Artemis," she said, "I'm stuck."

"What?"

"I'm stuck."

"The guard is nearly there just stay quiet and don't move. With any luck he will just walk straight past and not see you."

Juliet tried to stay as still as she could, which wasn't easy. The pain was nearly unbearable. She felt faint from the blood still trying to escape from her head and now from the pain of being bent in a way that no-one is meant to bend. She heard the footsteps of the approaching guard. Holding her breath only added to her dizziness, but it seemed necessary. She watched through the grills as the man strolled past without even an upward glance.

"Don't move," she heard the voice in her ear say, "I know its tempting now that he isn't underneath you anymore, but he still isn't far enough away."

"_You_ don't know anything," she groaned through gritted teeth, "Lemme speak to my brother."

"Juliet you shouldn't speak whatsoever at the moment. The guard may decide to…"

"Now," she groaned again, which made Artemis realise if he didn't he was sure to suffer for it later.

"What's wrong?" she heard her brother's voice say. It slightly eased the pain to hear his voice, very slightly.

"I'm stuck in a vent. It hurts." She felt short of breath and could only cope with a few short sentences. "Help me." She fell into a weird state of unconsciousness from the pain, but stayed held in the air by the suction pads.

* * *

"Juliet? Juliet?" Butler was panicking. "I have to go get her. She isn't replying." 

"Very well. She is still suspended in the vent by the suction pads, she won't be discovered. We have no more suction pads. Here is a headset. Go through the hole she made in the fence. I will put the cameras on a loop so that you won't be seen. It will be harder for you to reach her, as I won't be able to see where the guards are. I will only have the looped pictures."

"I can take care of them." He was already out of the car and halfway towards the hole before Artemis could reply.

"Butler," he turned around, "come straight back when you have her."

Butler smiled and scrambled through the hole in the wire, bending it back into place once he was through.

He walked over to the keypad door and a terrible sense of horror spread through him. He didn't have the code breaker. He didn't know what the code was. As if it was the answer to his prayers Artemis spoke in his ear.

"The code is 66935, I memorised it when Juliet went thorough."

Butler breathed a sigh of relief and entered the code. The door opened smoothly to reveal the corridor with three cameras.

"Artemis? Are the cameras off?"

"Of course," Artemis replied quickly and Butler set off at a run towards the other end of the corridor. He reached the other end and stood with his back against the wall and peered around the corner. It was deserted.

"Which way?" he whispered.

"Left and then right."

He went left. Racing down the corridor he only stopped when he came to a turning on his left. He looked down it and saw a man strolling right towards him. Just at that moment he seemed to drop something and bent down to pick it up. Butler retracted his head. He had an advantage now that the man hadn't seen him. He could quietly take him out. No need for guns. He waited a moment and then the man appeared at the end of his corridor. Unfortunately for him he looked away from Butler giving him the perfect opportunity to hit the pressure point at the base of the man's neck causing him to collapse in a heap on the floor. Butler picked him up and flung him over his shoulder. If he left him there someone else was sure to find him. He rushed down another stretch of the corridor until he reached the right turning and peered around the corner. There was no-one there.

He ran to the door of the cupboard that Juliet had entered earlier and rushed inside dropping the man on the floor, already feeling slightly drained and there was still a lot more to do. He looked around and noticed the crates piled up in the corner. Slowly he began the task of stacking them up in the middle of the cupboard and climbed up them to reach the opening. With considerably more effort than Juliet had used earlier he slipped into it and crawled along the vents. Every time he reached a hole he peered down through the darkness wishing he would see his sister's form scrunched in it. He had crossed at least ten by the time he found her. He looked down and shuddered at the sight of his poor little sister crumpled in a way no human should ever be. Thinking quickly about what he should do, he decided to climb down and try to help her from standing next to her. He lowered himself down and stood on the grill in a small gap between the metal and his sister.

"Artemis?" he whispered, "can you turn of the suction pads when I say?"

"On three I suppose?"

"Yes," he held Juliet's back and legs up and began to count. "One…two…three." Her arms fell into weird positions. He heard a crack, but she was free. He held her upright and felt that it was her arm that had broken.

"I've got her free. How should I get out? I don't think I can make it back through the vents with her."

"I will turn the cameras back on and then I will direct you to the door along the passages that have no guards. When I say you need to drop into the corridor. Ready?"

Butler adjusted his position so that he could jump up and use both his sisters and his weight to break the grill, but still land on his feet.

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Go," said Artemis and Butler jumped, breaking the grill as he returned to the earth and landing on the floor below.

"Left." Said Artemis calmly.

Butler ran left, his sister flung over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. He ran along the length of the corridor until he heard Artemis direct him right and then immediately left. Already out of breath his situation was worsened as he began to feel the start a stitch biting into his side. He expected a guard to jump out of every side passage he passed, but so far there hadn't been any, which he assumed was due to Artemis directing him away from them all. Suddenly a shrill alarm started ringing all around him which made Artemis have to shout to be heard. He had made another two lefts and three rights by now, running at full pelt. His stitch was burning and the weight of Juliet had begun to slow him down. Eventually, after another five minutes of running, following Artemis's instructions and sometimes doubling back on himself, he reached the place where he had knocked out the guard. Not that he knew it; all corridors looked the same. So when he turned right and right again he was relieved to see the code protected door in front of him.

"Run!" Artemis shouted in his ear.

Artemis never shouted. It was a bad sign for Butler, he knew Artemis shouting meant something or someone was coming. Then he heard them. Two dogs barking viciously as they ran down the corridor behind him. He reached the door and thrust it open, dashing outside and slamming it shut. The dogs hit the other side of the door, with a thud. He glanced over at the road where the car was waiting directly in front of the cut wire. Momentarily he paused to readjust Juliet on his shoulder and heal his stitch.

"Butler, run!" Artemis shouted again and he sprinted over to the wire.

He prised it open and unceremoniously flung Juliet through, scrambling after her and picking her up again once he was through. He ran towards the back of the car, the back door magically opening to allow him and Juliet a swift entry. He dived in and slammed the door shut behind him. The sight of Artemis sitting in the driving seat unnerved him.

As soon as they were in Artemis had begun to accelerate away from the warehouse.

"Artemis? Can you drive?"

"Yes Butler, I thought it may be necessary to learn now that I am tall enough to see over the steering wheel, which was wise considering the circumstances."

"Let me drive please."

"No Butler, you evidently have a stitch and this would influence your judgement."

It was at that moment that a bullet hit the rear windscreen of the car and deflected back onto the road thanks to the bullet proof glass.

"We seem to have company Butler. Would you mind taking care of them, I am attempting to drive."

"With pleasure Artemis," he said as a huge grin spread on his face and his Sig Sauer appeared out of nowhere.

Artemis was driving at 130 mph, but it didn't seem to faze him. He raced along the small road and drifted smoothly around the corner at the end. He slowed down on the next road, it was a residential street and he would prefer it if he didn't have to return the car with blood on the bonnet from a small child he had killed. Quickly, as always, he deduced that his only option was to head for the countryside and hope that by driving fast there he could lose the people chasing them. He drove down three more suburban roads before breaking free into the open countryside. Once again he sped up and drifted around another corner. He heard an explosion and was pleased to know it wasn't them that had blown up.

He glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw that one of the cars was still right on their trail, but his vision was partially obscured by half of Butler's form, the other half having disappeared through the sunroof in the ceiling. He quickly turned back to the road and saw a sign telling him to slow down in case of oncoming trains. Hearing the rumble of wheels on a track and he looked right to see a train heading in their direction. He looked straight ahead and back at the train. His mind was in overdrive calculating whether they would make it across the track in time. He was getting closer and closer if he was going to stop he would have to do it soon…

Butler smiled. Shooting was one of his favourite hobbies. He decided that his best option was the sunroof. He could force it outwards and use it as a bullet-proof shield. Yanking it open, he immediately heard a torrent of gunfire hit it. It held, so he stuck his head up behind it until the gunfire lulled. He stared through the glass sunroof and saw two cars and a motorbike following them. Luckily for him they couldn't see his head behind the blacked out glass. The bike decided to drive level with the car for a better shot. It was a bad mistake. Butler was ready for him. He waited until the man on the bike was in the perfect position before bringing his gun out of the hole in the roof and shooting him directly in the heart. The man crumpled in a heap and tumbled along with his bike into the ditch at the side of the road. By the time anyone had registered that an arm had appeared, it was gone and the oncoming bullets hit thin air. They were now driving through streets lined with houses. He didn't want to injure any unlucky civilians so he decided to wait until they were in the countryside, presumably where Artemis was heading.

A few roads later they were away from the town and heading out into nowhere. They drifted around a corner. Butler would have thought _where did Artemis learn to drive like this? _But he was too busy aiming. One bullet was all it took. It found its target, the petrol tank of the car, and it exploded in a huge mass of red and orange flames. He ducked down into the car to shield himself from the heat and was pleased to see through the back windscreen that the other car had dropped back slightly. He stuck his head out again and turned to see when the next corner was so he could take out the other car too. To his horror he saw they were driving directly towards a train line with a train heading straight into their path.

Artemis had made his decision. They could make it. Just. He sped up. They were close to the track now and the train wouldn't reach it until they were well clear he was sure. He braced himself as he crashed straight through the barrier that had come down to stop people driving in the train's path and smashed out onto the clear stretch of road ahead of them. He began to slow down and turned just in time to watch the pursuing car collide with the train as they tried to follow. There was a screeching of metal on metal as the train tried to slow down, pushing the crumpled car in front of it. Artemis smirked. Butler appeared back in the car.

"Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?" Butler said as he began to examine his unconscious sister.

"I told you I taught myself. I created a computer simulator, so that I could practice both safe driving and driving in an emergency." He had turned left and left again to make sure no-one would be able to follow them if they were a few minutes behind their associates. Butler was speechless. Who would have thought? Artemis Fowl driving as if he was a common street racer. He didn't know what to say so he changed the subject.

"Juliet should be fine. It looks like she only broke her arm."

"Good. But we will now spend the rest of the time in the hotel. I am not risking anything serious happening and you both need time to recover. I only thought it would be advantageous to try to steal the latest secret French technology now so that I could use it to my advantage whilst we are flying to the port."

Butler smiled; maybe Artemis wasn't as uncaring as he had thought.

They spent the next day relaxing and in Artemis's case going over the plan. It passed uneventfully and soon he was engrossed in his usual dream. The next day he woke up and thought nothing of it. He had had enough of trying to decipher it and had more important things to think about. They drove to the airport and returned the car, apologising for the damaged sunroof and bullet marks on the paint. They climbed onto the jet and Artemis began to think about the only thing he could at this stage. His latest scheme. His search for Atlantis.

* * *

Yay to cheesy car chases!!! 

Please Review :D


	4. Trouble with Trouble

Thanks to ilex-ferox, gray-0sno0-bunny and Gaara-kuns-Rabid-Fangirl for reviewing :D

**Disclaimer:** I wish they were mine but they're not

* * *

**Chapter 4: Trouble with Trouble**

They arrived at the airport in no time at all and from there drove to the coast. Soon they arrived at the cliff that was closest to where the submarine was waiting for them. Butler parked the car and Artemis climbed out and looked down the path to the beach.

"We can hire a boat from the shop over there and use it to get out to the submarine." He stated as his bodyguards put on the giant rucksacks full of guns that they had stored in the boot of the car. They slowly walked down the steep path until they reached the tranquil, sandy beach. Any other child would have tore off their shoes and raced to the sea feeling the tiny grains between their toes as they ran, but Artemis simply strode over to the small hut with the boats scattered outside.

The man inside looked exceptionally bored, because the beach wasn't very well known and no-one was there to hire any boats. He was sitting watching TV when Artemis walked up his window. He didn't even notice Artemis until he spoke.

"Hello, we would like to hire one of your boats." The man turned around and looked first at Artemis and then at Butler and Juliet who were standing behind him.

"Well what would you like young man?" the man smiled.

"Firstly I would like you to stop patronising me, because it is highly likely that I have both a higher IQ and a wider vocabulary than you even though I am at least twenty years younger." The man simply stared at Artemis not knowing how to react to his rudeness. "Secondly I would like a rowing boat that is able to hold the three of us with our luggage that we can borrow for four days. If that is not too complicated for you to understand"

The man was now annoyed of being insulted and turned his attention to Butler, whom he assumed was Artemis's father.

"Are you going to let him speak to me like that?" he demanded. Butler just shrugged.

"If you don't mind, we aren't here to discuss my manners and we don't have all day to hang around talking to you, so do you have a boat we can hire or not?"

The man realised he was fighting a losing battle.

"Yes_sir_, follow me."

He walked out of the door to the side of the window, muttering under his breath, and led them around to the other side of the hut where half a dozen boats were scattered around. He walked over to a rowing boat just about big enough for them to fit into and gestured at it, not daring to speak in case the strange boy insulted him again. Artemis simply raised an eyebrow and gave the man the right money. He didn't even bother to check that it was the right amount, scampering away glad to finally be rid of the weird company.

Five minutes later all three of them were sat in the boat bobbing up and down on the soothing waves. Artemis already thought that he felt slightly sick, but didn't voice his opinion as nothing could be done; they had to reach the submarine. Butler began to row them towards its position, his strokes were powerful and it took them no time at all to reach the site.

Artemis checked his watch. Two minutes ticked by and just as he was beginning to wonder whether the General had indeed decided not to agree with their deal, the water around them started to become rougher and rougher until a monstrous shape rose out of the water parallel to them. A hatch on the top of the submarine opened and someone poked their head out warily and looked at the boat. He waved them to the side and Butler obliged slowly moving the boat adjacent to the submarine, very cautiously, so that no water entered the boat. If a drop of water touched Artemis he would complain and right now he didn't need that to complicate everything.

Artemis was first to climb out when the boat was safely attached to the side with a rope. He climbed the ladder on the side of the submarine carefully, to make sure that he didn't slip and cause himself embarrassment. When he reached the top he straightened up and brushed down his clothes.

"Artemis Fowl I presume," drawled the man that had climbed out of the hatch. Artemis ignored him and continued to straighten out the creases in his clothes from climbing. Butler's head appeared over the top of the ladder.

"I said," the man angrily said raising his voice, "are you Artemis Fowl?"

"Firstly you did not say "Are you Artemis Fowl" you said "Artemis Fowl I presume." Secondly the chances of someone else rowing a boat out to this stretch of sea at this time of year are nearly impossible so therefore logically I must be Artemis..."

Artemis was cut off by the man seizing him round the neck.

"I don't like being talked to like I'm some kind of..." But before he could finish his sentence Butler had knocked him to the floor.

"Well there's no need for talking then." Artemis retorted as he rubbed the part of his neck that had moments before been locked in a death grip. The man glared up at them.

"Something you want to say?" asked Butler as the man adjusted his gaze to him. Just the sight of the giant manservant made him cringed back. "Well?"

"No." Murmured the man as he lay on the floor.

"Well then, off you go."

The man scrambled up and dashed towards the ladder nearly knocking Juliet off the side of the submarine as she climbed to her feet. Artemis walked over to the side and watched the man fumbling to untie the rope.

"Butler?" he said, "Our friend needs help untying the knot." That pushed the man over the edge; he struggled with the knot one more time before diving headfirst into the water and trying to swim back to the shore which was a considerable way away.

Artemis smirked. "Would one of you kindly untie the boat so that the poor man doesn't drown." And with that he walked over to the hatch and disappeared into the submarine.

"Artemis, I'm sorry about that man, I should have gone up first, I don't know what came over me," said Butler, when they were safely settled in the submarine later that day. 

"It is my fault old friend, I shouldn't have provoked him." Butler shook his head refusing to believe that it was anything other than his fault.

"So, to the next phase of the plan," said Artemis as he stroked the controls in front of him, "it should not take long to reach our destination." Artemis keyed in the coordinates of their destination into the submarines computer and set it to autopilot. "Until then I will be in my room." He walked down the small corridors of the submarine until he reached a small room to his left. _It's like being in prison _he thought as he pushed open the door and looked around. He walked over to the uncomfortable bed and sat down, legs crossed deep in thought.

* * *

Opal was sat in her cell when Holly and Trouble came to speak to her. She put on her best false smile as they walked in. 

"Captain Short," she sweetly said, "how lovely to see you."

Holly raised an eyebrow.

"I'm so glad to have a visitor. It's so lonely in this goblin prison, there's no-one normal to talk to." For a moment Holly felt quite sorry for her, but then she remembered what she had done to be there and her expression set into a frown.

"Save it," she said, "I didn't come here to listen to you complaining."

"Then why are you here?"

"We've come to ask you a few questions."

"Questions? Why?"

"There was a break-in at Police Plaza and some important things were stolen." Holly examined Opal's face trying to determine whether her look of surprise was fake or indeed real. "So we need to ask you a few things about it."

"But why? I've been stuck in this stupid cell the whole time, if you don't believe me ask the guards that have been guarding me, there's no way I could possibly have got out." She protested. "Believe me I've thought about it." She muttered loud enough for Holly to hear.

"So where were you last night?"

"Here. Ask the guards. Last night I was asleep so I don't know who was outside, but in the day it was that stupid one that always complains and talks about his mummy, ask him."

"Hey," Trouble spoke for the first time since they had arrived, "that's my brother you're talking about."

"So? He's still an idiot whoever's brother he is."

Trouble kept quiet, he knew she was right; his brother did act like an idiot most of the time.

"Come on Trouble."

Holly led Trouble outside and shut the door behind her.

_So that's Trouble_, thought Opal raising one eyebrow.

"There's no point asking her anything, we have no proof that she's even left her cell."

"I suppose, so what are we supposed to do now then," said Trouble glancing at Holly.

"Well we need to find out who was on the night shift yesterday and go and check with them that there was nothing suspicious going on, but first we should just check the surveillance footage from yesterday. That might be more reliable."

"Alright, but we should eat sometime," said Trouble not daring to look at Holly.

"I suppose," she replied, "but I really want to find out what's going on."

"Let's check the footage at the control room and then we can eat on the way back."

"Sure," she reluctantly agreed. She knew he was right.

They spent half an hour going through all of the different angles of footage, but Opal didn't leave her cell and there was always a guard in front of her door.

"Well that was pointless," Holly grunted, she was getting more and more disappointed with each visit she made today.

"Yeah, I know. Annoying isn't it?" Holly looked at him, he didn't look annoyed. "Let's go eat."

"Alright."

Trouble drove on the way back. He took them to a small restaurant near Police Plaza.

Holly raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were just going to lunch."

"We are. I just thought this would be nicer than a fast food place and we can talk."

"OK," Holly reluctantly agreed, she was agitated and wanted to carry on looking for clues.

They walked in and were seated at a small table in the corner of the restaurant.

"What would you like?" Trouble asked her opening his menu.

"I don't know something cheap; I don't have much money on me."

"Don't worry about that, I'll pay, my treat."

"Its fine, I'm not even that hungry anyway."

"I insist."

Holly just agreed. She wanted to get back to her thoughts about who it could be and didn't want to argue about who was paying.

"Thanks."

The waitress came over and they ordered. Holly sat back, deep in thought about who the mystery thief could be. _Who else could fool Foaly? Who even knows that the Cube exists? Why would someone inside want it? What are they planning? _The questions whirled around in her head. She started making a list of suspects in her head. It wasn't going very well. _Opal, but she was in her cell. Artemis, but he doesn't know about the People anymore and even if he did, he wouldn't do anything to destroy us if he remembered. Chix, but he has an alibi, he was with... _ Her thoughts were interrupted by Trouble.

"So Holly," he said.

"Yes?"

"I need to tell you something"

"What? Do you know something about the robbery?" Holly began to get excited. She looked at Trouble, he was blushing.

"No. Its about something else, the thing is I really like..."

At that moment the communicator on Holly's wrist began to beep. Holly pressed a button and Root's face appeared on the screen. He did not look pleased. In fact, he looked livid.

"Captain Short? What are you doing at the moment?" Holly glanced at Trouble and they shared equally confused looks.

"Eating," she replied looking back at the Commander's beetroot face, "what's going on?"

"What's going on?" Root shouted somehow making it seem like Holly should already know. "You need to get back here that's what."

"Why?"

"Two words...Artemis Fowl."

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	5. Into the Darkness

**Chapter 5: Into the Darkness**

Artemis was brought out of his meditative state as the submarine made a sharp turn causing him to tumble off of his bed onto the floor in a heap. He grumbled and stood up. The submarine turned sharply again and he grabbed the nearest thing to him for support; the bedside table. It tipped over as he pulled it and yet again he was sat on the floor. He looked up and suddenly he was back in his own house sitting on the floor. "Lollipops" he said. He blinked and stared at the wall of the submarine. _That's weird _he thought _why did I suddenly think about being at home? And lollipops? I've never used that word in my life._He was jogged out of his thoughts as the submarine turned again and he slid over to one of the walls. Hitting it with a thud, he decided it was about time he went to see what was going on. Once again he clambered up, this time trying to keep close to the wall for support incase it moved again. He opened the door and was just stepping outside when the sub moved again and threw him against the opposite wall. He slipped down it and found himself sitting on the floor again. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the only way to move was to crawl. _How undignified._ Slowly he began to shuffle along the floor at a snails pace. He was flung around as the boat continued to move, but eventually managed to reach his destination.

Artemis flung the door open, still crouching on the floor. Butler was sitting at the controls, wrestling with them like they were an out of control animal. Juliet was sitting in the chair next to him nervously looking out of the porthole in front of her.

"What is going on?" Artemis asked as he tried to use the door handle to pull himself up. Juliet was startled and turned around.

"See for yourself..." she said.

Artemis ran from the door to Juliet's chair before he could fall over again. He glanced at Butler still wrestling with the controls and then looked out of the porthole ahead of him. At first all he saw was water and the occasional fish or plant. The submarine still rocked around and he frowned. What was going on? He walked up to the porthole to get a better view. He pressed his nose against the glass and just as he did a huge tentacle bashed against the window making him fall backwards in surprise. Gasping, he looked up at the porthole again.

"A giant squid. How intriguing."

"You...try...controlling...this...then" grunted Butler as he continued his struggle with the controls. "Any...ideas?"

"You need to stop moving."

"What? Then it will just bash up the submarine some more."

"Brace yourself and trust me."

And he did. Butler had always trusted Artemis and now was no different. He let go of the controls and grabbed onto the seat handle next to him. Juliet hung on tight to the sides of her chair and Artemis flattened himself on the floor and held onto the legs of Juliet's chair. They were flung around for a while. Artemis's legs flailed around whilst he hung on for dear life. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to take anymore the squid decided there was no point attacking this thing anymore. It wasn't even moving and it didn't look very appealing. It swam away in a cloud of ink and disappeared into the darkness.

Butler sighed and let go of the chair. Artemis clambered to his feet and Juliet let him sit in her chair to let him recover from his legs being thrown about like he was a rag doll.

"How far away from the target are we?" he enquired as he gently breathed to calm his beating heart.

"Not far. In fact I think we should be there within the hour."

"Excellent," he glanced at Butler, "How much sleep have you had?" Artemis noticed the deep bags under Butler's eyes.

"None." he admitted.

"Well let me control the submarine then, if we need to go on a dive you will need your full awareness. If we see anything Juliet will inform you."

Juliet nodded in agreement and Butler reluctantly vacated his seat and walked down the long narrow corridors to his room, where he collapsed on his bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

"Artemis?" Juliet said.

"Yes Juliet?"

"I was wondering..." she was reluctant to ask his questions about his plan, "if we do find Atlantis, how will it benefit you?" Artemis raised an eyebrow as if the question was an obvious one. Juliet was unperturbed; she was used to this treatment from him. After a moment he answered.

"Well, firstly this is an enormous discovery, which will mean that people will take me more seriously despite my age." Juliet nodded. _How can anyone not take you seriously _she thought, "and more importantly," he continued, "there is said to be treasure."

_Of course that's the real reason _she thought, by she wouldn't dare say it because she was scared of what Artemis would utter.

* * *

Half an hour later a smirk appeared on Artemis's face. _We're here_ he thought.

"Juliet could you please go and get Butler. We are nearly there and now it's time to dive."

"Sure." Juliet said and she flounced off to get her brother.

Artemis sat staring expectantly out of the porthole closest to him. He couldn't see anything in the darkness of the watery depths and he decided the best way to search would be to use the pod that the General had kindly provided. The three of them could go and if they found anything two of them could dive whilst the other one directed the headlights from the pod. This could take days, but the results would be more than satisfactory.

Butler and Juliet arrived moments later and they all made their way to the pod at the back of the submarine. It was a top of the range vessel and the only country in the world that owned one was France, which was the reason he had decided to contact the General in the first place. It was made of indestructible Perspex that could resist any pressure at any depth. It was an orb shape which helped to ensure that the sides wouldn't buckle under pressure and it looked to anyone on the outside like the people inside were floating inside a bubble.

Artemis sat at the controls with Butler next to him and Juliet close behind. He had the lights on at full beam and it lit a path ahead ensuring that they didn't crash into the seabed. After a while Artemis wasn't sure he even needed them. They were no closer to reaching the bottom than they had been before, or so he thought. His mind began to wander to imagine the response he would get when he revealed the position of Atlantis. He barely noticed the sandy seabed rushing up to meet them and only just managed to pull them out of their nose dive in time. He followed it until he reached a crevice in the floor and then plunged even further into darkness. It looked promising. No-one would have ever dived this far before and therefore would never have found this fracture in the seabed and Atlantis.

He continued down it and gradually it began to widen turning from a gap of a hundred metres to a huge underground cave. Artemis frowned as it began to get lighter. It made no sense it should be getting darker if that was even possible.

"Fascinating," Artemis remarked and the others nodded with agreement transfixed on concentrating where the mysterious light was coming from.

They travelled a little further, no-one talking. None of them even dared to breathe. And then it hit them. A light as bright as if it was coming from the sun itself. They all sat with their mouths hanging open as the sight before them came into focus. Even Artemis couldn't help it.

As they sat there what seemed to be a huge modern city appeared. It was enclosed inside a huge bubble, not unlike the one they were sitting in, but on a much bigger scale. They could see what seemed from a distance to be people and cars hurrying about.

"Artemis?" Butler said with his mouth still agape, "What is that."

Artemis had already recovered from the shock and his mind was already working overtime to bring him up to speed on the situation.

"It seems," he replied without emotion, "that we have reached Atlantis."

They were close now and there seemed to be a landing strip guiding them with lights to land. Artemis obliged and as the runway came closer he gradually slowed down before coming to a stop slightly ahead of a small man with wings. The gap in the bubble they had come through had closed up and Artemis assumed it was safe to get out and breathe so he opened the door and climbed out onto the runway. He walked over to the little man, who was staring at him with terror in his eyes.

"Hello," said Artemis casually, "I am…"

"Artemis Fowl," the fairy finished for him and with that he ran off screaming at the top of his lungs.

Artemis, thoroughly confused by now, which is saying something for a boy genius, followed him at a brisk walk. He could sense Butler and Juliet behind him, so nothing fazed him. He reached what seemed to be a weird kind of underground airport and walked inside as the doors opened themselves. He stepped inside to a group of a dozen LEP Neutrinos held in his face. He stared at the gun and it all clicked into place. He fell to the floor and everything went out of focus. _Neutrino_ he thought, followed closely by _LEP, fairy gold, goblins, Opal Koboi, Foaly, Root, Mulch, C Cube _and after many more _Holly. _ By this time he was on the floor and his hands had been cuffed by the LEP and a little way to his left he could see Butler and Juliet having a similar experience. _Of course, it was Holly in my dreams. _

"Don't move or we will be forced to stun you," said a voice that cut into his thoughts. But Artemis wasn't scared, he remembered now and that was spurring him on.

"I want to speak to Captain Short." He said before he felt a sharp pain in his back and fell into unconsciousness.

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	6. An Unexpected Meeting

Sorry it's taken a while to update for those who have been waiting :D

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**Chapter 6: An Unexpected Meeting**

Holly couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Artemis?" she said when she had recovered from the shock.

"Yes, Artemis. Now get back here before I come and get you myself." And with that his face disappeared from the communicator and Holly turned her shocked face to Trouble who seemed to be in some sort of weird daze.

"How? What? Why? Huh?" Holly said speaking exactly what her mind was thinking.

"I…dunno," Trouble replied and then shook himself realising that was the most inarticulate thing he had ever said.

"I'd better go then." Holly said and raced out of the restaurant before Trouble had time to reply.

Trouble looked and then turned to the space where she had been sitting a minute before.

"You," he said completing the sentence he had started before they were interrupted. He sighed and then began eating his lunch which had just arrived.

* * *

Holly's mind was working overtime on the way back to Police Plaza. _How was it possible? Did he really manage to beat the mind wipe like he had the bio bomb? Did he steal the C Cube and plan to do something else with it? _She raced back at top speed and when she reached the station pulled up outside and ran up the stairs pushing all complaining bystanders out of the way. She rushed inside and dashed to Commander Root's office. Somehow she forced herself to knock on the door even though she just wanted to fling it open and demand answers. She knew that would just slow her down though, because Root would get annoyed. 

"Come in." he boomed from inside. He obviously wasn't in the best of moods. Holly walked in calmly not coaxing him to tell her to slow down.

"Commander," she said, "I came straight away. What is it about Artemis?"

"Sit down and I'll tell you," he said much calmer than Holly expected. She sat down and looked him straight in the eye.

"Well," he began, "after you left to see Opal this morning Foaly came to me with some bad news. Fowl's fairy sensor was going wild. He said that there couldn't possibly be a malfunction with this much activity. So we assumed the worst, that he remembered everything and had found us. Not long after that we got a call from the LEP in Atlantis. Fowl had landed there and was now held in one of their cells along with two other mud men. One they recognised as the one from all the videos, the one that took out LEP Retrieval One and beat a troll, our good old friend Butler. The other, they said, was a female, but she put up a real fight when they stunned Fowl and they had to stun her too."

"Good old Juliet," Holly said fondly, she had always liked the girl.

"Yes, but currently both of the Butlers are stunned and so cannot answer any questions. Only Fowl himself is awake and he says he will only talk to you."

"Me? Why me?" she questioned solemnly, although in her heart excitement was growing, she knew this was the start of an adventure, Artemis was back and something always happened when he was around.

"Well I suppose he thinks you're the only one who will take his stories seriously; you are the one who he knows the best."

"So what am I going to do?"

"We are sending you to Atlantis on the next shuttle there. You and Foaly will have a direct connection so that we can watch when you question him and then decide what to do."

Holly nodded.

"Well don't just sit there. Off you go." Root turned beetroot and Holly made a swift exit. When she was halfway towards the Ops Booth and well clear of Root she smiled, because despite what she said Artemis was her friend.

Foaly was waiting for her when she arrived.

"Hey Holly," he said, "come in, you've only got half an hour until your shuttle leaves so we need to hurry." She stepped inside and Foaly immediately handed her a new LEP helmet.

"It's my new design," he said, "some new features to help you if you need to go topside."

"What…?"

"No time! I'll tell you when you need them."

"OK, so…" Foaly shoved a new Neutrino and something small in her hand.

"Keep the sealed acorn safe and hidden, it's not legal, but if you end up going on some sort of mission, which I suspect you will, make sure that you use it."

Holly nodded. Foaly spun her around and pushed her towards the door.

"But what about…"

"No time! I had to give you the basics only, now leave, before you're late and Root kills me as a result." He was right, if she missed her shuttle he would take it out on Foaly.

"Alright, well bye then." As she walked she turned and faced her friend who was adjusting his tin foil hat which had come askew when he was rushing around.

He waved and then disappeared back into his booth.

* * *

Holly rushed to the shuttle port. It wasn't only out of fear for Foaly, even through she knew he would be fine anyway, it was mainly because she was so excited to see Artemis after all this time, and after all of the times she had almost visited him. 

She made it to the shuttle with extra time to spare and the journey from Haven to Atlantis took no time at all. When she arrived in Atlantis she was met by the LEP Commander that was the equivalent of Root, although he was nothing like him. He was well built and calm looking, he reminded Holly of Trouble slightly. He took her through the passages of the shuttle port in the middle of Atlantis and straight to Artemis's cell. Holly could hardly believe that after all this time she was only one door away from him. She held her breath not daring to believe it was true. _Why am I so excited?_She thought, _this is Artemis Fowl, the one that kidnapped you. But he's changed, _another part of her brain retaliated, _he was my friend. But how do you know he's going to be like that now, after the mind wipe? What if he's changed back? _She willed herself to stop thinking and just open the door. She let go of the breath she was holding and casually walked through the door.

"Captain Short, I'm glad you came." Artemis said as she stepped through the door. She looked at him sitting on the bed in his cell. He looked the same as he had the last time she saw him.

"Oh, so we're back to surnames then Fowl."

"Well considering that you let them mind wipe me then I would say yes, we are."

"That obviously doesn't matter though, you just can't forget about us can you."

"Apparently I won't let myself." He smiled, remembering the dream he had been having for the past two weeks. "I'm sorry Holly, I am happy to see you really."

"Likewise. I've been bored without you messing everything up." Holly smiled too and they paused for a minute each lost in their own thoughts.

Foaly coughed in her ear.

"Oh, Foaly." Holly had almost forgotten that she was there for a reason.

"You need to find out how he knows about us again please. He shouldn't remember anything with my mind wipe and fairy sensor."

"So Artemis how did you remind yourself about us?" Holly casually asked.

"It wasn't until I was here in Atlantis and I saw a Neutrino that I remembered everything."

"But then how did you know to look here?"

"I didn't. I wasn't looking for you. I was looking for Atlantis and I expected to find an old ruined human city, but I found this instead."

"Really." Holly raised an eyebrow and stared him straight in the eye. "I didn't think you ever did anything by chance."

"Neither did I."

Foaly coughed in Holly's ear again. "Holly you do know that you're going to have to use the mesmer on him."

"Yes I know."

"It's alright Holly, I was expecting that you would have to use it." Holly wasn't surprised that he knew what they were saying, nothing about Artemis surprised her.

"If he knows that you would have to use the mesmer on him and he had already anticipated this meeting then he may have taken some precaution against it. He's done it before."

"I don't think so. Don't you need mirrored sunglasses?"

"I suppose, but I just don't trust him anymore." Holly looked into Artemis's eyes. She was lost in the wave of blue washing over her like a grain of sand being engulfed by the sea. Something in those eyes made her believe him.

She layered her voice with the hypnotic mesmer.

"Artemis," she said, "how did you remember us?"

"When I first arrived here one of the LEP was carrying a Neutrino and that set off a chain in my mind which sparked my memories of the people."

"How did you find Atlantis?"

"I had been planning a search for it for three months, since I discovered there was meant to be treasure."

"Of course, you never do anything for nothing."

"I never did before, but I changed until I was mind wiped. I think now I will be back to my good old self again."

"See Foaly he's telling the truth."

"Ask him if he knows anything about the forbidden treasure."

"Why would he?"

"I'll tell you later, just ask him."

"Artemis, what do you know about the forbidden treasure?"

"The forbidden treasure? I've never heard of it before in my life."

"See I told you."

"Then it really wasn't him that broke into Police Plaza. Ask him if he wants to help us. Don't use the mesmer." Holly changed her tone and began to talk normally to Artemis again.

"Artemis, will you help us?" Artemis pretended to consider it. "I can understand if you don't want to after what we did to you, but we had to." Artemis looked as if he didn't believe _that_ for one minute.

"Well what's in it for me then?"

"I thought you just said that you had changed."

"I have, but what I really want is to know that in return for my help, you won't mind wipe me again."

"Foaly?"

Root's voice appeared in her ear instead.

"Captain Short, tell him that he will not be mind wiped if he helps us."

"That bad?"

"Tell him…" Root seemed to be getting annoyed so Holly did as she was told.

"Deal," she said and held out her hand for Artemis to shake. He obliged and for a moment they didn't release the grip they had on each other.

Artemis noticed first and pulled his hand away, turning to face the opposite wall.

_What was that? _Holly thought. _Why didn't he let go of my hand? What does that mean?_

"Holly you need to bring him back here so we can brief you both." Foaly said on the other end of the line.

"What? There? Why? Can't you come here?"

"No it's not possible. You have to come here."

"How?"

"We have a plan." Foaly said and he proceeded to explain it in great detail.

* * *

Mulch stretched out on an abandoned deckchair that he'd found discarded on the beach. A huge grin was plastered on his face. It was the middle of the night and the sky above him was clear, giving him a spectacular view of the stars twinkling on the inky canvas, like glass shattered into thousands of pieces. He let out a huge sigh. He'd escaped only two days previously, but already he felt freer than he had in a long time. 

He had been held in custody for three months whilst the LEP tried to work out some glitch in his files. He had no doubt that a certain teenage genius had placed these mysterious problems there and inwardly he thanked the kid for aiding his escape. But he was impatient and got bored of waiting, so had actually escaped when they were moving him into a different cell. He grinned again as he reminisced his escape.

"So," he had said, "which cell are you putting me in?" the officer escorting him had simply shrugged in a bored sort of way, obviously wishing he was somewhere else.

"What an idiot," he muttered, "I bet he puts me in an earth bottomed cell, he won't take me to Howler's Peak like any respectable officer would." The officer had of course heard, as Mulch had intended him to and turned to face him.

"I'm taking you to Howler's Peak actually," he said suddenly changing his mind, not wanting this lowly criminal to think that he was some sort of stupid henchman. Mulch internally smiled and prayed that the next part of his dodgy plan would work, he didn't actually want to end up in that hellhole. The night before he had had a feeling that Root would be calling on him to help in some sort of crazy mission that he was likely to get killed in. Some sort of dwarf intuition. The same intuition was the one that told him he needed to make a run for it. Soon.

The officer walked down the steps of Police Plaza holding Mulch in one hand. He had purposefully put up no resistance so that the officer would be more trusting of him. Whilst the guard was looking the other way at some vehicle that he supposed was supposed to pick them up he unhinged his jaw. They had nearly reached the bottom of the stairs. Three steps…two…one…

The officer never really had a chance. His measly hold barely lasted a second and before he knew it Mulch was beginning to disappear into the earth in front of him. He ran towards him, which added to the long list of foolish things he had done that day. There seemed to be some sort of explosion and before he knew it he was on the steps in a considerable amount of pain from the force and covered from head to toe in what looked like mud, but smelt like something else. Mulch was finally free and the taste of the earth before him made it feel even better. He forgot all about any worries he had and made a path straight to the surface.

He was currently on the East coast of Spain. He knew that it wasn't a place that anyone was likely to look for him as long as he kept a low profile. Inwardly he cringed at the thought of all the Oscars he had stolen. It had been fun and fulfilling to have something to aim for, but it had eventually lead to his discovery and being pulled into another scheme that he had nearly died in.

Of course Spain was the perfect place to hide. He didn't like the heat, but it didn't matter, he only came out at night. In the day he stayed cooped up indoors trying to decide what to do next. He had mainly been contemplating whether to return to the Fowl kid and give him his golden disk. He took it from around his neck and stared at it. What did it contain? No doubt it would help him to remember, but surely just one look at Mulch would do that. He put it back around his neck and felt a pinch on his arm.

_D'Arvit! Stupid mosquitoes, _he thought.

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	7. An Uncomfortable Journey

**Chapter 7: An Uncomfortable Journey**

It was the most ridiculous plan that Holly had ever heard. News that the infamous Artemis Fowl had somehow found a way into Atlantis was spreading like wildfire and therefore she couldn't see how this plan would work. She sighed and turned to Artemis who had turned and sat back down on his small prison bed. Inside she knew that he was overwhelmed by the situation, but he didn't show it. He sat calmly waiting to be taken to Haven.

"Well then," she said, "Let's go." Artemis nodded and stood up. Holly began to walk to the door, expecting him to follow her, but he stayed where he was. She turned to face him again.

"Artemis?"

Artemis was absorbed in his thoughts. Remembering all of the things that he had forcefully been made to forget was a strange, but somehow pleasing experience. He just nodded and stood up when Holly spoke to him, not thinking about what she was saying and barely noticed when she turned around expectantly.

"Sorry," he said, "Suddenly being reminded of all that information can do that to people."

She just nodded and carried on outside. Artemis was surprised to find that there was no-one in the of the shuttle port where they had been holding him. He then concluded that whatever they were about to do wasn't going to be legal and the Council would definitely not be involved.

Holly walked to the next cell along and opened it.

"Holly," Juliet said from her place on the floor, as she stood in the open door, "How nice to see you." Holly had always liked the younger Butler, even though she knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

"Hi," she replied, "but there's no time for lengthy catch-ups now, we have a situation."

Juliet got up without hesitation and rushed to the door.

"This is what I came for."

Holly opened the final cell in the small port and no sooner had she done so when she was pushed to the floor and Butler came storming out oblivious to the fact that it was Holly he had pushed and Artemis was already safe. He looked left and saw that the passage turned a corner, best to search around here first. Then he looked right and noticed Artemis and Juliet hurrying towards the fallen LEP officer. All of this happened in a second and it took that long for Butler to realise who the officer was. He stood looking bewildered.

"Holly? Holly, are you alright?" Artemis asked with obvious concern. She blinked and looked up at him.

"I'm fine. Nice to see you too big guy." She said turning her gaze from Artemis to Butler.

"I'm sorry Holly. I had planned to tackle the next guard that came in here and then escape to rescue Artemis. I had no idea you would even be here. Isn't this Atlantis?"

"Yeah, but I'm afraid your sightseeing is over. We're leaving now." He nodded and Artemis extended a hand to help her up. She took it gratefully, despite the fact that she was sure she could stand up without help.

"Let's go then," she said into the expectant silence and she walked off down a corridor with the three of them in her wake.

They exited through the back door and an old delivery van was parked outside waiting for them. Holly walked towards it and opened the driver's door.

"You've got to be kidding me." Artemis said loud enough for Holly to hear.

"Nope, but what did you expect when Foaly is making up the plan?"

"Hey!" Foaly said in Holly's ear.

"Good point," Artemis replied.

"Well wait until he sees what's in the back of the truck."

"What's in the back of the truck?" Holly asked him, knowing that only silence would be her reply.

"I don't know," Artemis said, still thinking she was talking to him. He walked around to the back of the truck and found it full to the brim of rubbish. The smell overpowered him and he had to take a step back.

"You don't expect me to get in that do you?" he said with his finger and thumb holding his nose shut tight. Holly came round to the back to have a look.

"Whoa," she said as she stepped around and immediately stepped back, "I'm afraid, Mud Boy, we do."

Artemis raised an eyebrow as if this was some kind of sick joke. Butler and Juliet came to have a look and cringed at the sight of the waste they would have to sit in.

"It's the only way," Holly said sympathetically, "They won't bother to search the van with a smell like that."

"Fine. But Foaly don't think you're getting away with this. I will get you back for this, mark my words."

"I'm sure you will," he said in Holly's ear as he sat watching the spectacle take place from his safe place in the Ops Booth, "I'm sure you will."

* * *

They had been driving for twenty minutes and Artemis thought he was going to pass out from the noxious waste fumes. The three of them were hunched behind what seemed to be a particularly bad smelling pile of rubbish, out of sight of the doors. Holly was driving and didn't have to put up with the smell. A wave of envy ran through him, but it didn't last long. If she hadn't have come he didn't know what he would have done. Without knowing why he smiled and Butler looked at him questioningly. He shook his head and just as he did they stopped abruptly. 

All three of them sat perfectly still as the back doors of the van were opened and the fake sunlight drifted in.

"See. I told you I was carrying waste. You think I would try to smuggle someone in this?"

"I think it would be cruelty if you were," Artemis dared a nod in agreement, "But missy you don't know what people do these days." Artemis sincerely doubted that, after all Holly was a member of the LEP.

"Yeah," Holly replied and the doors closed. Artemis heard the voices move around the side of the truck as Holly was told all about the strange things this fairy had seen. The engine started up and they moved again for a minute before coming to another stop. The engine was turned off again and the backdoor opened.

"Guys you can come out now." Holly said from a safe distance. Artemis went as quickly as he could to the door and outside. "Actually please stay inside."

Artemis looked at himself. His suit was ruined, covered in all of the muck and grime from inside. He knew he must smell disgusting but he couldn't tell because his nose had slightly adjusted to the smell. He looked around. They seemed to be in some sort of metal box with barely enough room to walk around the truck. Butler and Juliet were emerging behind him.

"Where are we?" he asked with a confused expression on his face.

"Cargo shuttle," Holly said in a bored way, "Only one travels from Atlantis to Haven and then from Haven back everyday. Each vehicle on it is checked, although not very well, and then they drive into one of these metal boxes which automatically adjusts in size so that the vehicle fits with room to walk around the outside. That way more can fit and it's more efficient."

"How big exactly is this thing?" Juliet asked whilst trying to scrap some of the rubbish off.

"I think it can fit about one hundred vehicles the same size as ours."

"Big then. So how does it get to Haven?" Butler reluctantly asked. He was obviously still ashamed of pushing Holly over earlier.

"A special tunnel. The widest one between Haven and Atlantis. The shuttle still only barely fits." Artemis nodded and sat down.

"So how long are we going to be here and what are we going to have to do when we get to the other side?" he asked.

"The journey doesn't take long. It's not far between Haven and Atlantis. We should be there in ten minutes. When that red light flashes green it means we should get back in the truck ready to go." They all looked at the red light so that they all knew where to check. "As for the other end I don't know," she admitted. "I can tell you as much as I know now that Foaly isn't here." She was dressed in civilian clothes so that she wouldn't look suspicious and had taken the LEP helmet off.

She beckoned them to the front of the truck away from the smell of the back. She sat on the bonnet making sure that she wasn't near the smell of the others, who sat in the small gap in front of her.

"Well," she began, "it all started last night. There was a break-in at Police Plaza and things were stolen."

"Things?"

"Well to be exact your infamous C Cube and some of your voice patterns presumably so that they could use it." Artemis looked both amused and shameful at the same time. Holy sent him a questioning look.

"Well it's amusing that Foaly couldn't break my Eternity Code," he said, somehow answering the unspoken question, "but if it's causing you trouble then I'm sorry I created it." Holly nodded.

"Anyway," she continued, "we couldn't find out who did it, we thought it might have been Chix Verbil from the pass cards used and the camera footage, but it looks now like someone dressed as him. We then thought it might be Opal Koboi, but she's still locked up and there's someone guarding her door at all times of day. So basically we have no idea." Artemis looked thoughtful and Holly left him to see if he could think of anyone it might be.

"So what is the Forbidden Treasure then?" Holly was shocked by the random question.

"Forbidden Treasure?"

"You asked me about it when I was under the mesmer. It wasn't very strong at that point, I could tell you didn't want to do it." He was right, but she ignored that part of his statement.

"Well I don't know what it has to do with this, but the Forbidden Treasure is…"

"Green light." Juliet said as she rushed for the back of the van. Butler and Artemis followed and were soon crouched behind the pile of junk again.

* * *

They reached Police Plaza without any further incidents. They drove around the back and climbed out of the van with their clothes beyond repair. The smell would never come out even with Foaly's magical touch. They walked to the back door and Holly knocked twice. Trouble opened the door and smiled at Holly. 

"Holly, how lovely to…What is that smell?" Holly grinned. Artemis walked in after her.

"Oh, Mud Men never did have a sense of hygiene." Artemis scowled, but Trouble ignored him and led the four of them down a corridor into a back conference room.

They sat down around a wide table and not long after Foaly and Commander Root walked in. Root sat down, whilst Foaly stood in front of the congregation.

"Well," he began, "As you all no doubt know there was a break-in at Police Plaza last night. Both the C Cube and Artemis's voice patterns were stolen along with some information. Information regarding the Forbidden Treasure."

"What exactly is the Forbidden Treasure?" Butler asked.

"Well there is a story told to young fairies of the Forbidden Treasure. It is said to have been created by the first of the warlocks when magic began. It was created so that if a catastrophe befell this world then it could be put right. It was hidden in the depths of Egypt where most fairies wouldn't venture to go because of the heat, which deterred them from trying to use it. The Treasure, when kept in the tomb that it was left in allows the person or people who reach it one wish. Their heart's deepest desire. But obviously eventually some fairies tried to find it to use their wish to become immortal and control the world. At this time the warlocks were still around and managed to stop them before they could succeed with their plans. They decided that simply hiding it in a tomb wasn't enough and surrounded it with unthinkable dangers. The story is told so that no-one will ever go in search of it unless it is absolutely necessary."

"So why have you got information on it?" Artemis asked, breaking the atmosphere Foaly had created when telling the story.

"Well I was trying to find out where it was and what was surrounding it. We were eventually going to send fairies to destroy it. It somehow creates more of a threat than comfort. I found out quite a lot, but it seems now our friends have information on it too."

"...and they are going to try to find it..." Butler said.

"...and use it to take over the world..." Holly continued.

"...and you want us to stop them," Artemis finished. Foaly stared at them, it was strange to see them finish each other's sentences.

"Yes, well you obviously work well as a team and we need someone to get there first and destroy it."

"But how?" Juliet, who felt a little left out, said.

"Well you need to move quickly, we don't know how close they are to finding it and they have already had a head start. I have found out that there is probably a maze surrounding the treasure with different dangers from both past human and fairy history. That means that when you first enter there are two ways to go. Both ways eventually find the middle as two people were meant to find it. One to make the wish, the other to wish them out of there. There is no way out when you reach the chamber. Therefore there will need to be two teams of three, just to make sure that if something happens to one person on each team there will still be two people that reach the chamber and if something happens to a whole team the other one will reach it." They all nodded in understanding. "We will also need someone to wait outside to capture the bad guys if they show up later than us."

"But there aren't enough of us." Root interjected. "You're staying behind aren't you?"

"Yes, but who's missing from the old gang?"

Root noticed first.

"But the convict escaped. He's no use to us."

"I tagged him so that I could track him anywhere. He's currently in Spain. One team will have to go get him. The other will need to travel to London. I found out where the instructions are to get to the maze but I haven't got them yet."

"But why the convict?" Root was feeling disheartened already. He had already had to call in a favour to get Artemis and co. here without the Council knowing, but another convict? That was pushing it.

"He has his uses and you know it." Root nodded in agreement, despite how annoying he was he had helped them out many times.

"So what are the teams and who has to wait outside?" Holly asked.

"Well Trouble is going to wait outside…"

"What! Why me?"

"Because we need someone with magic and that's only you, Holly and Julius," Root scowled at Foaly, who just grinned back, "and out of those three you are the obvious choice to wait outside."

"But it's not…"

"Either that or you don't go." Root said interrupting his moaning. Trouble looked at Holly.

"Fine."

"So that leaves the teams. We will need one person with magic on each team for healing so Root and Holly are the team leaders. So out of the other four. One Butler on each team, because I assume one of you needs to look after ickle Arty here." Artemis scowled and Holly smiled at him. "As for Artemis and Mulch. Well we all know the commander here can control the convict so he can go with them and that means Artemis goes on Holly's team. But," he said before Butler could interrupt, "I think it would be best if Juliet went on Holly's team."

"Why?"

"Because the way they are going to go I've heard can get very tight in places and you probably wouldn't fit."

"Well why can't they just go the other way then."

"Mulch's expertise are needed the other way unfortunately. There's no other way. I'm sorry, but I think it's best."

Butler reluctantly nodded his agreement, this had to be done and if he had to trust anyone else with Artemis it would be his sister.

"So Team A is Holly, Artemis and Juliet and Team B is Julius, Mulch and Butler."

"If you call me Julius one more time..." Root said threateningly and began to turn to his usual shade of red. Foaly ignored him, still smiling.

"But what are we going to wear?" Juliet asked, "Look at what your stupid plan did to our clothes."

"I have something in mind." Foaly grinned.

"Oh no, now what?" Artemis asked despite not wanting to know what the answer would be.

"Well after you had been mind wiped I didn't believe that you would stay that way and it turns out I was right. So...I created LEP uniforms for you, Butler and Juliet so that if some sort of emergency came up, as it always does when you're in our company you would have all the equipment and information that the others have."

"Our own LEP uniforms…cool" Juliet said. Artemis was relieved that it wasn't something stupid.

"And where did you get the money for this?" Root was turning a nasty shade of beetroot.

"Out of the budget. It's not like you can talk anyway. You're the one that asked the kid to help us." Root took a deep breath and sat back.

"Fine, it could be quite useful actually."

"Great, well Trouble will show you guys where the shower is and then you can change. Artemis can you just stay here for a while I need to ask you about some parts of the plan," Artemis nodded, "Then Trouble can stay here and do some research with me whilst the rest of you go topside. Then Team A should go look at the puzzle in London, it's best if Artemis is there, and Team B should track down the convict."

"My pleasure." Root said and a massive grin spread on his red face, making him seem like a grinning tomato.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading. Reviews make me update quicker :D 

**Next Chapter: **The start of the plan


	8. Flying High

Thanks for reviewing…

* * *

**Chapter 8: Flying High**

Root was waiting out back for Butler to arrive. His anticipation was building and he couldn't wait to see the look on the old convict's face when they found him. The door opened and Butler stepped out. He looked strange in the oversized uniform and helmet.

"Well let's go then." Root said impatiently. Not waiting for a reply he climbed into the waiting van. Butler climbed into the back, the only place he could really fit and Root zoomed off at breakneck speed. Butler was slammed against the back of the van and groaned knowing that the rest of the journey would probably be more of the same.

Artemis stepped out of the room he had been changing in to find Holly and Juliet waiting for him in the corridor.

"Well?" he said expectantly, "How do I look?" Both of the girls burst into hysterical laughter. "What?"

"You…look…weird," Juliet managed to say between laughs. Artemis scowled. He didn't like to be laughed at.

"Yeah," Holly agreed as she burst into another wave of giggles.

"Fine." He said and stormed down the corridor and out of the back door. He wasn't surprised to find that the other team had already left. Root had been very keen to catch up with Mulch. He climbed in the back of the van before the two girls came out in hope that they would leave him alone, but eventually he heard the door open and their laughter drifted through it.

"Artemis with a helmet, now I've seen everything." Juliet giggled.

"He looked like some sort of demented kid astronaut." Holly agreed.

"Like fancy dress." At that they both burst out laughing again.

_It's not that bad,_ he thought.

Juliet climbed into the back of the van still not able to wipe the huge smile off her face. He pointedly turned in the opposite direction from her.

"Juliet," he heard in his ear, "Turn your head so that I can get a better view." Juliet turned her head. Foaly started laughing.

"Foaly, it was your idea to make us wear these." Artemis growled into his helmet.

"Yeah. And what a great idea it was."

Artemis clenched his fists.

"Look now he's getting angry," Foaly said.

"I'm going to kill you when we get back."

"Oh you won't be seeing me again. They won't bring you back down here, even if you survive." Foaly said and Artemis could tell from his tone of voice that he had a grin on his face the whole time. Artemis was grateful when Holly spoke in his ear even if she was laughing.

"Alright, leave him alone now; he has agreed to help us after all."

"Fine. I'll speak to you guys later. I need to see how Butler's doing anyway with that maniac for a driver."

Butler wasn't doing so well. Now he could remember why he felt so sloppy and old and it wasn't helping him survive all this banging around.

"Hey big guy, how you doing?" Foaly said.

"Not good." He said as they turned a corner and he bashed into one side of the van. He tried to steady himself by bracing his arms and legs, but it didn't help; they were going too fast.

"Don't worry you're almost at the shuttle port now. Then you can get out of the death van."

"Foaly." Root warned.

"Take it all out on Mulch." Foaly suggested knowing full well that the commander would.

Suddenly they screeched to a halt and Butler was thrown towards the front with a thump.

"Ouch, careful, I'm not as young as I used to be you know," he complained.

"Come on," Root said, ignoring him.

Butler climbed out of the back of the van and straight up a ramp into a shuttle.

"Wow, nice service," Butler commented.

"Only the best when you're trying to hide someone." He grinned.

"Let's go."

They climbed in and Butler strapped himself in the co-pilot's seat tightly. This wasn't his first shuttle ride and he didn't want it to be his last.

"Spain here we come."

* * *

Holly drove a lot better than Root, she wasn't after anyone and therefore didn't feel the need to rush as much. By the time they reached their shuttle port Artemis had finally calmed down, deciding that it was better to focus on the task at hand. They entered the shuttle and Holly sat in the driver's seat. Artemis sat next to her and quickly buckled his seatbelt remembering his previous experience with a shuttle. Juliet sat behind them and watched as they took off and fell down into the enormous hole towards the earth's fiery core.

Artemis and Juliet held their breath as they continued to fall further and further. Holly decided to wait for longer than necessary before pulling up and zoomed up the chute heading for the surface.

"There was no need for that," Artemis commented.

"What do you know about driving a shuttle?" Holly replied, barely concentrating on driving, because it was second nature to her.

"Well I know that you could have pulled up quicker than that."

"So what? I'm the driver," Holly replied starting to get slightly annoyed.

"So you didn't have to do that."

Juliet sat behind watching the scene like she was watching a tennis match. Her head turning left then right then left.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Why not?" Holly turned to look at Artemis and saw that he had a massive grin on his face.

"You're actually enjoying this aren't you?" she said.

"Well it keeps me entertained," he replied, his evil grin spreading even more.

Juliet snorted at the look on Holly's face. They both turned around and stared at her.

"Oh," she said, "Sorry if I'm interrupting you."

That just made Artemis smirk even more. Holly scowled and turned around concentrating on driving.

"Why such an angry face?" Artemis asked as he turned back around. Holly ignored him. "Oh, the silent treatment. I take it you aren't going to reply until we reach the surface then?" Holly didn't reply. Artemis laughed. "I'll take that as a yes then."

* * *

Butler and Root eventually reached the surface and Root rushed him through the shuttle port and out the other side. They emerged on a deserted beach. The sea was calmly rolling in and out glinting under the dazzling moon. Root breathed in the air enjoying being on the surface after what seemed like forever. Butler immediately looked around searching for any signs of life that could be threatening. There was nothing up and down the beach and behind them seemed to be fields and fields of orange groves. It was very unlikely that anyone would be out this far but you could never be sure.

"Mulch is further up the beach, you're gonna have to walk," Foaly said with a smile on his face.

"Walk? Why can't we fly?" Root groaned.

"Do you honestly think that you could carry Butler, even if he was attached to your moon belt?"

"Well no, but he could always fly himself."

Butler who was still staring into the shadowy trees turned around and looked Root in the face.

"You would let me fly? Honestly?"

"Well it would save time and you never know when it will come in handy for you to know with so many of us not being magical."

"Are you sure Julius?"

"Firstly don't call me Julius and secondly don't question my decisions when you aren't even here."

"Fine. There are some new sets of wings in the shuttle port. If you give Butler the biggest size they should be able to hold him."

"Great," Root said and he stomped off and disappeared into the invisible entrance.

"Foaly?" Butler said, "Is there any way that I can see if there's anyone in the trees?"

"What sort of a stupid question is that," he replied, obviously annoyed at being told off by Root, "I'll turn on your infrared."

The visor of Butler's helmet suddenly turned an eerie red and Butler stared into the darkness again. All he could see were a few nocturnal animals scrounging around for food; nothing dangerous.

Root emerged from the shuttle port with the wings. He already had his pair strapped to his back. He handed the other pair to Butler.

"Here," he said, "put these on. Have a practice and then we'll leave."

Butler strapped the wings to his back and pulled the throttle. He soared into the air. It was the weirdest thing he had ever experienced and it was made even weirder because he was still looking through his infrared visor.

"Foaly? Can you please turn these off now? This is strange enough as it is."

"Sure and I'll turn the shield in your suit on so that your invisible to any prying human eyes."

The world in front of Butler suddenly turned back to its normal colours and he suddenly felt an odd vibrating feeling.

"So this is what shielding feels like" he said.

He rose into the air gradually adjusting to the feeling of flying. He soared like a giant bird.

"You ready then?" Root asked.

"Let's go," he replied.

They started off slowly, Butler occasionally fumbling with the controls and nearly plummeting to his death. But gradually it happened less and less and they built up speed.

"Wow," was all Butler could think to say.

The silence added to the ambience of gently swaying in the breeze. The moon was so big it was almost as if they could touch it just by reaching out. Butler felt like he should just fly off there and then and never come down, but his mischievous thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey guys," Foaly's voice said, "I can connect you with the others if you want, it's rather amusing at the moment."

"Go ahead Foaly," was all Root said, but really he was worried about Holly. What was that nasty Fowl boy doing to her now?

"Oh, the silent treatment. I take it you aren't going to reply until we reach the surface then?" Artemis said. There was no reply. "I'll take that as a yes then."

"Fowl? What are you talking about?" Artemis was unfazed by the sudden question apparently from nowhere.

"Well, you see Commander. I was just telling Captain Short that there was no need to dive so far and she seems to have taken it rather offensively."

"Well don't in future; she's a better shuttle pilot than you could ever dream to be."

"I'm sure she is," he replied as he turned to look at Holly who was blushing slightly from his compliment.  
"So…where are you anyway," Holly said trying to hide the fact that she was blushing; she could feel the heat in her cheeks.

"We are currently flying along a beach in Spain," Butler replied.

"I can see it now. Root struggling to keep in the air even with a moon belt," Juliet input, a funny image of Butler dangling too close to the ground for comfort came to mind.

"Actually," Butler replied, "I have been provided with my own set of wings."

Even Artemis was surprised by this comment.

"You mean you're flying solo?" Holly asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's amazing."

"I don't believe it."

"Hold on, I can feed you all the video from Julius's helmet." Foaly said.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't call me…"

"Can you turn towards Butler now please?" Foaly interrupted.

Muttering Root reluctantly turned towards Butler and made sure his helmet had a good shot of Butler soaring through the air. Butler flickered onto the helmet screens of the trio. They sat in shocked silence as they all stared with wide eyes at the sight in front of them.

"Are you sure this isn't some sort of simulation?" Juliet said after a moment, "Some sort of joke?" Holly finally shook herself out of the daze at Juliet's words.

"Yeah, surely you wouldn't let a Mud Man fly."

"Does it look like we have time for practical jokes?" Root said, turning his helmet away from Butler and waking Artemis from his dumbfounded silence.

"No," was all he said.

"So where are you?" Root asked.

"We're…" Holly began.

"Sorry guys, chatting time's over. You're nearly there. He's two hundred feet away. It's time for the plan."

"Alright well see you guys then." Juliet said.

Everyone said their goodbyes and the connection was severed.

* * *

Butler snuck up behind the dilapidated deckchair and there he was sitting with his legs sprawled out in front of him. He was staring at something placed in his cupped hands. Butler recognised it as the gold disk he had made for Mulch to give back to Artemis. No doubt he was wondering whether to return it now that he was free. Not that he needed to now. He hung it back around his neck and Butler decided to strike. He pulled out a sinister looking syringe and inserted it into Mulch's arm which was conveniently held in the air from him putting the disk around his neck.

Mulch felt a small pinch in the skin of his right arm. He thought he'd been bitten by one of the pesky mosquitoes and brought his arm down to look. Before he did an enormous shadow fell over him in the light of the moon. He looked up and there he was. The person he least expected to see in the world. Except for maybe Artemis himself. He then saw the syringe in his hands.

_What's he done, _he thought, _and why is he here? How did he find me? How did the Fowl boy beat the mind wipe?_

And then he fell into a deep sleep.

"Well that was amazingly easy," Root exclaimed as he flew down next to Butler, who was hauling an unconscious Mulch over his shoulder.

"You should have seen the look on his face," Butler said, "it was worth it just for that."

"Open the connection with Fowl again Foaly," Root commanded.

"Yes sir, right away sir!" Foaly replied, saluting safely in his Ops Booth.

"And that's enough cheek from you. No more or there will have to be some budget cuts."

Foaly didn't mind joking around, but jokes about cutting his budget were different. Root smiled as his comment had the desired effect.

"Really or was there something else to it?" Artemis said.

"It was…" Holly began to reluctantly reply.

"Sorry to interrupt your oh so important conversation again, but we've got Mulch. So what do we do with him now?"

"Baby-sit," Artemis replied, smirking as he imagined the commander's face. He didn't have to imagine for long though. Foaly was annoyed from the budget comment and he fed Butler's helmet video onto their screens. They all burst out laughing.

Before them was a puce Root. Artemis could have sworn steam would come out of his ears at any moment, cartoon style.

"Fowl!" Root shouted, "You better be joking or there will be hell to pay!"

Artemis grinned safely miles away from Root.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to be Mulch's mummy for the next few hours." Root looked like he was about to explode.

Foaly chuckled. "Thanks guys I needed that." And with that the connection was cut.

Butler could see that Root was livid and it made him smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Root bellowed at him.

"Nothing," Butler quickly said, somehow intimidated by the small man in his current state. But really he was happy that Artemis had returned to how he was before. He had some kind of a sense of humour and hopefully it would stay that way. He hadn't had a chance to speak to Artemis yet, so he didn't actually know what the deal had been, because presumably there was one, he hoped it didn't involve any mind wiping. They might not be so lucky next time.

"So," Root said not particularly to anyone, "where are we taking this oversized baby?"

He was greeted with Foaly's voice, "You can take him back to his place."

"His place?"

"Yeah, it's not far from where you are."

"Fine, send us the co-ordinates."

A green marker appeared on the screen. Foaly activated Butler's shield.

"I think you're going to have to carry our little friend here," Butler said as they were about to take off, "I don't think my wings can take anymore weight." Root turned and looked at him.

"There is absolutely no way I am carrying that little runt. We'll just have to walk, it's not that far, and we do have all night."

With that he set off at a brisk pace into the darkness. Butler sighed and reluctantly slung Mulch over his shoulder and followed.

* * *

Half an hour later they reached a neglected block of flats in the middle of a small village, a small distance away from the coast. They opened the creaky door and went inside. Mulch's flat was on the bottom floor, presumably he had learnt his lesson since the Oscar incident and now gave himself a good getaway. Root tried to open the front door.

"It's locked," he said.

"Well the key is probably in his pocket, get it out." Butler said still holding Mulch slung over his shoulder.

"Go into the convict's pockets I…"

But he never got a chance to finish. The look on Butler's face said it all; he was tired from carrying Mulch and not as young as he should be.

"Fine," Root muttered as he fumbled around in Mulch's grimy pockets. "It's not there," he said after a moment of fruitless searching, "what should I do now?"

"Try looking under the mat." Butler suggested as he readjusted Mulch on his shoulder.

"Well you could have told me that before you asked me to search his…," he kicked the mat out of the way with his foot, "No it's not under the mat," he said.

"So now what shall we do?"

"We should just return to the shuttle port I think. Who knows what it was like in that flat anyway, probably all mud and grime." Root shuddered at the thought of what could be waiting for them on the other side of the door.

"Alright, but can we fly?" Butler said.

"We have to, it would take us forever to walk. Hand over the convict and I'll attach him to my moonbelt."

Butler handed over Mulch. Root reluctantly clipped him to his moonbelt and covered him with a section of cam foil.

"Let's go," he said, "if we take too long I might be tempted to drop him in mid flight."

Butler smiled and nodded in agreement. They went back outside and took off. Once again Butler felt how good it was to be flying. They soared back to the beach and headed back towards the orange grove.

Very uncharacteristically, Butler suddenly flew down and plucked an orange from one of the high branches of a tree, completely lost in the moment. Flying made him feel like a completely different, carefree person. He slowed down and landed outside the shuttle port enjoying his freshly plucked orange. Root shook his head and struggled to land with Mulch attached to him. He unclipped him and Butler flung him back over his shoulder. Root found the entrance to the shuttle port and they went inside prepared for the long wait ahead of them.

"They went back to the shuttle port," the voice said, "I thought you said that they would stay with that stinking dwarf."

"No matter," another far off voice replied, "just make sure that you don't lose them. We need the next part of the clue."

The voice was disconnected.

"Great," said the shadowy figure as they settled down behind one of the orange trees, "more waiting."

* * *

**A/N:** And so the old gang is reunited…

**Next Chapter:** Artemis and the others find the first clue


	9. The Stone

**Chapter 9:The Stone**

"Wow, Root really does want to catch Mulch doesn't he?" Juliet said after they had spoken to team B.

"Yeah, I can't believe they're there already, Root must have driven like a maniac," Holly replied.

"Well that wouldn't surprise me," Artemis said. Holly scowled at him. "What did I say?" Holly didn't reply. "So we're back to the silent treatment now that the others are gone then."

Juliet leant back in her chair preparing to watch the spectacle before her.

"Well I don't want to talk to you, you're just annoying," Holly said in a somewhat childish way.

"Well you just did," Artemis retorted the smirk on his face growing every second.

Holly growled. "And to think I nearly came to give you your memories back," She immediately covered her mouth when she realised what she'd said.

"Oh you did, did you?" Artemis said, a knowing look in his eye.

"No…Well…I…" Holly stuttered.

"And why would you want to go and do something like that?"

"Because it was boring without you. I wanted more excitement. I wanted to be back on some harebrained mission on the surface." she sighed, giving in easily, not allowing Artemis to subject her to further sarcastic mocking.

"Really or was there something else to it?"

"It was…"

Root interrupted her enquiring about what to do with Mulch now that they had him.

Ten minutes later they all collapsed in laughter as Butler and Root went to baby-sit Mulch.

"Well," Artemis said tears welling in his eyes from the laughter, "how much further?"

Juliet smiled glad to see Artemis laughing after all the time he had spent in a bleak depression.

"Not far," Holly struggled to reply through her laughter, "In fact we're almost there."

Indeed the lights of the shuttle port could be seen in the distance and in no time at all Holly had to recover from her fit of giggles to dock the ship.

"Now," Juliet said, "What do we do next?"

"We go on a sightseeing tour of merry old London," Holly said smirking.

"What are you grinning about?" Artemis asked, a nervous tone in his voice, when Holly smirked it was usually bad for him.

"Oh, nothing," Holly replied in a secretive way, "You'll find out soon enough."

They crossed the lobby of the shuttle port, which had been conveniently emptied in advance, and walked over to the entrance.

"Here," Holly said, "Put these on."

She handed Juliet and Artemis the clothes that they had come in cleaned to perfection by Foaly to get the rubbish van smell out. Artemis scowled.

"So the point of me putting this ridiculous outfit on was…?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Well partly because it's best that they should be worn in before we go on the main mission, but mostly for my amusement," and with that she ran out of the shuttle port cackling like a witch.

_Just you wait_ thought Artemis in a threatening yet somewhat light-hearted way _Revenge is always sweet._

* * *

Ten minutes later Juliet and Artemis emerged from the shuttle port in their normal clothes. They had stepped out into a grimy back alley that led from the riverbank off into the maze of back streets. The scowl on Artemis's face had slightly receded but he still felt humiliated and wasn't ready to forgive Holly yet. Perhaps that's why she had conveniently shielded before they came out.

"Now where is she?" Juliet asked whilst spinning around in circles to examine every corner of the alley.

"She probably went to scout the area. We should get out of this alley though, we look very suspicious."

Of course he was right, so they exited the alley and proceeded into the throng of people along the bank of the Thames.

"But where are we going?"

"When I was discussing the plan with Foaly he told me that there may be a clue at the British Museum. That's where we should be heading."

"Well done Mud Boy, not as stupid as you looked in the LEP suit." The air said.

Artemis scowled again.

"You're going to wish you never did that."

"I doubt it. That was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen."

"And I don't suppose you'll let me forget it either."

"Of course not! Why would I go and do a stupid thing like that?"

Juliet nudged him. He was getting strange looks from passers-by as he had a conversation with seemingly mid air.

"Let's go." He growled, mentally planning a way to get Holly back later.

* * *

Juliet and Holly stood outside the museum. Artemis had already gone inside to scout ahead and technically Holly wasn't allowed to enter yet. Juliet had just finished dialling the number of the museum. They had decided the best way to get Holly in would be the same way as they had previously done when they had last met. Juliet sweetly asked the man on the other end of the phone if her fairy friend was allowed in the museum. The man treated Juliet as if she was some small child and said of course she was. Juliet smiled and gave Holly a nod. She thanked the man on the other end of the phone and hung up.

"Great let's go." Holly said, adding snidely, "Before Artemis loots the place."

Meanwhile Artemis had already headed towards the Egyptian exhibit. Various Egyptian artefacts were scattered around in glass display cabinets and he began very slowly to examine each case. Statues and different forms of pottery featured in most of the cases and it was difficult to know what to look for amid all the artefacts. Then something caught his eye. The Rosetta Stone. He had heard of it before of course. It had furthered the understanding of hieroglyphics as a large proportion of it was written in hieroglyphics, the other part being written in classic Greek.

Artemis thought back to Foaly's advice.

"_There should be a clue. Some sort of written verse. Written in Gnomish of course. My research has led me to believe that whatever it is may be in the British Museum. Check the Egyptology exhibition. Mixed in with the hieroglyphics or something. I'm not really one hundred percent sure…"_

"_Oh really, you sound so convinced." _

"_Enough with the sarcasm, just check there."_

Artemis walked over to the Stone. His hopes were beginning to build. But it was so big, over a metre high and nearly a metre wide. It would take forever to read it alone.

"Artemis! There you are! You just ran off."

"I didn't run, I merely went ahead in order to begin the search."

"Well you could have told us where you were going." Juliet pouted in a childish way.

"Alright, I'm sorry."

"Wow, the Mud Boy says he's sorry now there's something you don't see everyday." Holly's voice came from nowhere.

"I think it would have been more intelligent to say hear everyday." Artemis retorted. Holly scowled, but luckily no one could see.

"Could you please help me search for fairy words within this?" Artemis said overly politely.

"No need for that Mud Boy," Holly said, glad she could once again be winning in their seemingly never-ending argument, "My helmet can scan for it. Move over."

She invisibly shoved him and he toppled onto the floor. _Oh great now people are staring _he thought.

Holly ran the test with her helmet. Nothing…Nothing…Nothing…

"There!" She exclaimed.

"Where?" Artemis said sceptically after having picked himself up from the floor, "It's not like we can see you."

"Well it's not like you could read it anyway" Holly retorted.

"What does it say!?" Juliet interrupted.

"It says,

_In granite we were made,_

_Our writing should not fade,_

_We stand quite tall in red,_

_But do not be misled,_

_When we were raised up high,_

_To name us they did try,_

_But naming came much later,_

_When a woman who was greater,_

_To a temple moved us,_

_And we became quite famous,_

_Of us there are three,_

_One must hold the key,_

_The clue is at my base,_

_And it will help you trace,_

_The treasure that you seek,_

_But your chances are quite bleak…_

It ends there."

"That was _the _most terrible rhyming scheme I've ever heard." Artemis commented, "They rhymed us and famous! And a woman who was greater than what?! A five year old could write a better poem than this! And what sort of..." Holly interrupted his outraged ramblings.

"Ok, Ok, but other than that, what is it referring to? It must be what we searched for because it refers to the treasure and our 'bleak' prospects of getting to it."

"I'm not sure…"

"Wow Artemis Fowl unsure…there's something you don't see everyday. Yes, I said _see_ not _hear_."

"Stop it now you two, we have some stuff to do." Juliet interrupted again before a new argument commenced.

"Are you sure you didn't write this? You're talking in very bad rhymes too." Artemis commented in response.

"Hey, there's no need for that! Holly was mean to you not me!"

"I know, but…"

"Holly, whilst those two argue could you get another shot of the Stone and I can research into it. Shouldn't be too hard to find out what 'they' are." Foaly said into her ear

"Sure."

Holly turned back and Foaly took a photo.

"Thanks."

"What do we do now?"

"You join in the waiting game." Foaly said with a grin. "You should head back to the shuttle port I think."

"Alright, bye." The connection was cut and she turned back to the others.

"Guys!" Holly said to the others who were still quarrelling. They ignored her.

"Guys!" She tried again.

"Oh well I did try to warn you" she muttered under her breath and pushed Artemis once again to the floor.

"Hey!"

"Well you weren't listening. Foaly said we should get back to the shuttle port."

"Fine!" Artemis said extracting himself from the floor and storming off.

"I think you annoyed him," Juliet said smiling.

Holly grinned.

* * *

**A/N:** I know the poem thing was terrible but it was just so that Artemis could rant about it :D

Please Review!


	10. Tickly Tingles

**Chapter 10: Tickly Tingles**

Holly sighed. She was flying next to Juliet and they were heading back to the shuttle port attempting to catch up with Artemis after he had stormed off. It wasn't like him to reach in such a childish way. She couldn't decide whether to smile or feel guilty about it. Before she could decide her thoughts were interrupted.

"I have the answer to the clue," Foaly suddenly announced in her ear.

"That was quick. What is it?" Holly said expectantly.

"Cleopatra's needle," Foaly said plainly, "There was no clue to which one it is. But you may as well check the one in London since you're already there. Lucky that they decided to steal everything from the Egyptians isn't it." He chuckled to himself.

"Do you know where it is?" Holly said abruptly ignoring his joke, not really in the mood for it, "We've lost Artemis."

"It's in Westminster. On the bank of the Thames. I'm sending the co-ordinates." He didn't bother hiding the hurt in his voice.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude, it's just a bit stressful trying to look after Artemis."

"It's alright. Here are the co-ordinates. Good luck."

"Thanks." She flew up to Juliet her mind now firmly on the job, "We are going to what could be the next part of the clue now. We can catch up with Artemis after."

Juliet looked sceptically at Holly, causing some of the passers-by to glance up where she was looking, only to be met with thin air.

"Do you know what my brother would say if he knew I wasn't with him right now? I have to find him right away. I'm his bodyguard."

Holly sighed. "Fine. I'll go. Meet you back at the shuttle port alright?"

Juliet smiled. "Thanks Holly. See you later." She waved and wandered off in the direction of the shuttle port, the other people in the street giving her a wide berth, clearly thinking she was crazy.

Holly sighed again.

"I prefer it on my own anyway." She muttered, causing an old woman to spin around in surprise and fall over dropping her bags of shopping. She quickly set her helmet so her thoughts would be kept to herself, and Foaly of course, and flew off.

She flew south over the hoards of people out shopping in the busy London streets to the Thames and specifically the point where Cleopatra's needle stood proudly next to the river. Gracefully she dropped to the base and began to scan the outside.

"Can you see anything?" she asked Foaly.

"Try around the other side."

She flew around and scanned the base slowly. The granite was smooth and untouched. No inscription appeared on the side she was inspecting. She was just about to move off when Foaly shouted.

"There!"

"Where? I don't see anything."

"That crevice there. Strange. Try touching it. Maybe you need magic to open it or verify your a fairy or something. Press your palm up against it."

She leaned over and touched the surface. It at first felt like what she had expected cold granite to feel like, hard and, well, stony, but just when she was about to complain to Foaly that nothing was happening a tingling spread up her arm from her fingertips. It coursed through her whole body and made her feel the most awake she had ever felt. Her vision slipped from the stone to the floor.

"Look at the stone." Foaly said, "Do you see anything? Anything that was hidden before? That only someone with magic can see?"

Holly turned her head feeling quite light-headed and stared at the granite. A glowing word showed where previously nothing had existed.

"Mut...i…an…yu," she said in a straggled voice and fainted.

* * *

Juliet spotted Artemis sulking in the corner of the deserted shuttle port.

"Artemis?" she said gently.

He glared up at her causing her to immediately regret speaking.

"Where's Holly?" he asked looking away to indicate his lack of interest.

"She went to find the next clue without us, something about Cleopatra I think, Foaly called when you ran off."

"I see," he said examining something non-existent on his suit.

"Actually she probably should be back by now. I took some detours when I was searching for you in case you had wandered off. It shouldn't take her that long, especially flying."

Artemis looked unconvinced. "I'm sure she's fine. We can ask Foaly if you're _that_ worried."

"I'm not really _that _worried, I'm sure you're righ..."

"You're right we should check."

He grabbed his discarded helmet and put it on only to be hit with a tirade of noise.

"…Mud Men! No attention! Holly could be hurt!"

"Foaly?" Artemis asked tentatively.

"YOU!" he shouted, "Go and find Holly NOW! She fainted at the needle."

"What?!" He stood up and ran towards the exit.

"Artemis!" Two voices shouted at once.

"What!" he said stopping confusedly at the sound of his name being called from two different directions.

"Your helmet." Foaly said, "Take it off."

"Oh." Artemis said taking it off hurriedly.

"Where are you going?" Juliet said.

"Cleopatra's needle to get Holly, she could be hurt."

"Well what are we waiting for then?" Juliet said from somewhere in front of him having run past him.

"I…" But he didn't bother finishing, choosing instead to race after Juliet in search of Holly.

* * *

Mulch slowly prised his eyes open, having no idea what to expect when he did. The face that loomed over him was not one that he wished to see.

"Julius, what a pleasant…"

"Don't Julius me!"

"Why not that's your name isn't…"

"That's not the point! Don't push your luck convict! You're lucky I don't throw you straight into Howler's Peak!"

Mulch grinned. Root looked suitably annoyed and beetroot. It didn't take a genius to realise something was going on. That and the fact that he hadn't been thrown in Howler's Peek already.

"But you wouldn't do that though would you Julius…"

"Don't…" Root tried to interrupt again.

"..because you need me to help you as usual."

Root looked the other way as if he hadn't heard what Mulch had said.

"Don't pretend you didn't hear me. I bet you had to ask Fowl to help too didn't you."

Root scowled.

"Of course you did! That's how this always works. I don't know what the point of the LEP is. They should just employ us _convicts_ all the time."

Root began to turn more red, if that was physically possible, but Mulch felt he could push it once more.

"And I bet if the Council found out you were doing this…"

"Enough!" Root shouted.

He took his moonbelt from around his waist and attached Mulch, who was already bound, to it. Then he reached up to a low hanging pipe protruding from the ceiling and attached the other end to that leaving Mulch hanging upside-down in midair.

"Oi! Let me down!" he said squirming, "This is making my face tingle!"

"When you stop behaving like a primitive species I'll let you down."

Mulch made an unattractive disgusted face.

"Which from your behaviour looks like it will be never."

He chuckled to himself.

Mulch continued to struggle just as Butler entered the shuttle port after finishing practicing his flying. He took one look at Mulch and smiled.

"Can you get me down?" Mulch asked pleadingly.

Butler looked at Root.

"I think it's best to keep you up there."

"But then what's my incentive to help you?"

"So that I don't throw you in Howler's Peak. I thought we already went through this," Root interjected.

"Julius, we found the clue," Foaly's voice said in his ear.

"Good," Root said, ignoring the Julius from Foaly. A smile spread over his face as the red hue faded away, everything seemed to be going right so far. "Which shuttle port?"

"I like what you did with Diggums," Foaly said.

"Thank you. Now which shuttle port?"

"Probably best to leave him…"

"Foaly! What's wrong?! Tell me now!" Root once again started to go a bit red.

"Well Beijing, it seems the old city used to be in China."

"Well what's the problem with that?" Root said calming down.

"Nothing, it's just, you need to make a stop at London. Holly had a bit of trouble getting the clue, I don't know when she'll be awake again to fly the shuttle."

"Is she alright?" Root enquired genuinely concerned.

"Yes...only...she's unconscious."

Root rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I knew it was too good to be true."

"I'll send Trouble to China to meet you."

"Alright. Oh and Foaly?"

"Yes?"

"Don't call me Julius!" He shouted and disconnected.

"Let…me…down…!" Mulch shouted looking considerably red in the face.

Root sighed, but grinned, at least babysitting hadn't been that bad after all.

* * *

He watched as Artemis and the Butler girl picked up Holly,with some difficulty considering she was still shielded by her helmet and was therefore invisible, and carried her off towards the shuttle port.

"They're gone." He whispered, "But I don't want to do that! Who will come and collect me if that happens to me?"

"Don't worry about that!" The voice said, "Just get on with it."

The figure moved towards the needle and peered at it.

"What do I do?"

"Press your hand against it."

"Do I have…?"

"Do it!"

The figure pressed his hand against the granite surface.

"Nothing's…Ah it tingles."

"Look! What do you see!"

"Glowing word…Mutianyu…"

"Take your hand off!"

The figure obeyed immediately.

"Right, now go and perform the Ritual. That should get you back up to full strength. Then you need to get to China."

"But I…"

"Go now!"

The figure stood up shakily and took off into the sky.

"Excellent. Soon the Treasure will be mine." The voice said from far away.

* * *

**A/N: **Review Please! Thanks to those who have, it's greatly appreciated :D


	11. A Strange Awakeing

**Chapter 11: A Strange Awakening  
**

Artemis peered down at Holly's unconscious face. A strand of hair hung gracefully over it and Artemis brushed it back as he had done in his dreams. She looked so peaceful.

"Artemis." He was knocked back into sense.

"Yes?"

"I think they're here." Juliet said.

He glanced over to the door and saw a frazzled looking Root rushing over to them.

"How is she?" he asked bending down next to her.

"There's been no change. Foaly said that her magic was probably sapped. She needs to complete the Ritual."

"Well let's go then," Root said standing up, "The quicker we get there the quicker we can cure her. It's hard to find a sufficient place to do it in the middle of London. So many Mud men everywhere."

Artemis simply nodded and stood up. Juliet walked over and picked up Holly, clearly being the strongest of the three. They walked silently towards the shuttle and greetings once there were solemn.

"Well this is going to be a fun journey," Mulch muttered.

Artemis decided to sit up front next to Root. All he could possibly think about was Holly. Would she be alright? Why hadn't they just performed the ritual before they left? What would they do if she didn't recover? He shook his head. Now wasn't the time for worrying. But he couldn't help it, what else was there to do?

"You look tired," Root said as if he could hear Artemis' thoughts, "Why don't you get some sleep with the rest of them? You'll need the energy when we get there."

Artemis nodded reluctantly and slowly rose from his chair. He headed to the back of the shuttle to where the others were sleeping. Feeling very uncivilised he lay down on the floor next to Butler and closed his eyes. It didn't take very long for him to fall into a deep sleep, it had been a long day.

* * *

Holly woke with a weird sensation flowing through her. One of being totally refreshed. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at six faces.

"Holly?" Someone said gently. She peered up at the face and saw it was Juliet.

"Yes?" Holly started pulling herself up from the floor.

"Holly stay still! You're not well," Trouble said moving towards her and attempting to help her lie back down.

"Oh Trouble, I'm fine!" she said and immediately stumbled into Artemis as she stood up.

"Oomph." He said stumbling slightly himself.

"Sorry." She said feebly.

"It's alright. Here," Artemis smiled and offered Holly his arm to support herself, "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, just like when you first wake up… Where are we?" she said suddenly noticing their surroundings.

They were in the middle of some tall trees which seemed to stretch into every direction. The sun peeked through a gap above them to lend them some light. And yet there was a weird and unnatural smell in the air. The smell that Mud men taint the world with. But somehow it felt worse than it would in some of the major cities.

"And why does it smell so bad?"

"China," Artemis said, "The Great Wall is just up there."

She looked up and could see a section of it high on a steep looking hill through the trees.

"You might want to shut out the smell," Foaly said through everyone's helmets, "China is known for it's terrible pollution. You're just lucky that the shuttle port was built near the wall and not in Beijing. The foggy pollution is much, much worse there."

Holly turned on her shield.

"Much better," she said smiling, "So is this where the maze is then?"

They all nodded.

"Are you alright to leave?" Root said in a voice that seemed to be an attempt at sympathetic but just sounded like he had something caught in his throat making his voice weird.

"Yeah, actually I feel a lot better than before, sort of refreshed."

"We had to use your sealed acorn to get your magic back." Root explained as they began walking down the path that they had trampled on the way there.

"We're going to go back to the tourist entrance to the wall and then up the stairs there. It's easier to check out the possible entrances that way apparently."

"Hold on then. Surely you can't come out like that!" She said turning to face Artemis.

Artemis looked at her with raised eyebrows, as if she should know that he never got anything wrong.

"We can shield too you know, with our suits," he indicated the LEP suit he was wearing causing Holly to grin.

"Oh...Yeah…I knew," she said holding back laughter.

Artemis rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Where are you?"

"I'm coming! Give me a chance! I had to pick up the Mud Man."

"Fine!"

"I'm flying over the pacific at the moment. I shouldn't be ages."

"Well get on with it or they'll get here before us!"

"Just shut up both of you."

Muttered apologise ensued.

"You should be sorry! Hurry up and find the entrances before they arrive so that when they do you're ready!"

"Alright. Bye." One of the voices was disconnected.

"Incidentally how long are you going to be?"

"Well this Spiral man is really heavy so a while probably."

There was a sigh at the other end.

"You are incompetent! It's Spiro! You have got the right Mud man haven't you?"

"Yes…I meant that…sorry."

"Just get on with it." The second voice disconnected.

"Mummy will hear about this!" The remaining voice moaned.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for taking ages to update and that it's a short chapter. Had lots of other stuff to do :D


	12. The Final Clues

**A/N: **I apologise for the long delay before this chapter, exams and stuff distracted me. Thanks for the reviews everyone, I'm more likely to write more if I know people are enjoying the story.

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Final Clues  
**

The bead of sweat which had been slowly rolling down the side of Mulch's face finally reached his chin and dripped onto the stone stairs below him. He groaned as he felt it fall and slumped onto the next step.

"D'arvit convict!" An annoyed voice shouted from further up the stairs, "Get your smelly hide up here!"

"I never agreed to walking and stairs and the sun and..."

"I don't care! Help us find the entrance!"

"I can't take this heat though!" Mulch whined defiantly, crossing his arms in a manner which reminded Root of a naughty child.

"Do I look like I'm enjoying this?" Root shouted back.

Now that he mentioned it Mulch noticed that Root was so red he seemed like he was about to explode. He deduced it was a combination of anger and the boiling heat. They had purposely climbed the wall at the hottest time of day to avoid the prying eyes of tourists who were quite rightly deterred from walking up the stairs and instead preferred the lifts. The occasional group of tourists would wander down complaining about the heat and the stairs and would give Mulch curious and disgusted looks. Of course Root had denied Mulch's access to an LEP suit, he liked to see Mulch suffer in the heat while they were protected by their suits from a large proportion of the heat, but Root was so out of shape even this small amount was affecting his temper.

"Get...Up!" Root whispered so that the passing couple didn't hear, the problem with Mulch not wearing a suit was that Root had to talk normally to him rather than through a helmet.

"Why can't we just fly up?" Mulch asked loudly, still defiantly sitting on the stairs and apparently not catching the tone of Root's voice.

"I wish!" One of the tourists commented as he passed Mulch heading down the stairs. His girlfriend elbowed him hard in the ribs for talking to the crazy, dirty-looking tramp and pulled him quickly down the stairs.

Root rolled his eyes and considered Mulch's question.

"Because, _convict_, we don't want to risk you escaping with some LEP wings and a suit..."

"If I wanted to escape I wouldn't bother with a suit I'd just leave right now," Mulch muttered under his breath.

"..._importantly _we are _trying _to find the entrance by looking as we walk, _remember_?" Root continued.

"Well just come and get me when you find it then." Mulch whined positioning himself in the shade on his step.

"Convict!" Root shouted, starting to charge back down the stairs at Mulch.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Mulch called getting up and clambering up the stairs at a snail's pace.

* * *

Meanwhile further up the stairs Holly and Trouble were searching in the surrounding shrubbery.

"Are you sure you're alright Holly?" Trouble asked her again.

"Yes Trouble, I'm fine," she replied through gritted teeth. In an attempt to avoid further questioning she moved further into the undergrowth.

"But are you sure? That did look pretty painful."

"Trouble, you weren't even there to see it! I'm perfectly fine, better than ever. Now help find the entrance, please." She pulled at some tree branches and disappeared behind them.

"Holly I..."

"Get searching!" her voice shouted from somewhere behind the trees.

Trouble sighed and headed back towards the stairs. He felt like he didn't know how to talk to Holly anymore. After Artemis had disappeared Trouble had been there for Holly, maybe her only true friend other than Foaly, but Foaly had been very busy, sometimes too busy for her. Trouble had always been there, every time she needed someone to talk to, he knew her better than maybe anyone else. In that time he had fallen in love with her and sometimes he thought that she might love him back. But then Artemis Fowl had returned and Holly had become the happiest she had been for a long time. Obviously Trouble was pleased to see her happy, but this new, or old rediscovered, independence meant that Holly didn't need him anymore and it broke his heart. Dejectedly he continued the search for the entrance, selfishly longing to join one of the teams and get his own wish.

* * *

Even further up the stairs Butler was making sure that Juliet was efficient enough to protect Artemis in his absence.

"Big brother I know this stuff, you know that I know it. This is so pointless."

"But Juliet I have to ensure that Artemis will be safe."

"Oh so now you don't trust me with him then?!"

"I am here remember, and I'm not a child, I am capable of looking after myself at least to some degree." Artemis interrupted.

Both Butlers glared at him and then continued their argument. Artemis sighed and continued up the stairs. He noticed a small path leading from the main stairs which ended in more plants surrounding a very ornate looking pagoda.

_Interesting_ Artemis thought, heading towards it leaving the bickering Butlers behind.

He reached the wooden frame and ran his fingers along the art painted on it.

"What do you think of this Foaly?"

"Well the wooden frame would have rotted by now if it was built at the same time as the Treasure was buried."

"That's exactly what I thought," Artemis said smugly, one step ahead as always, "But what about the stone that the frame starts from."

He indicated a stone which ended at waist height, the same height as the rail which ran around the entire circle. It seemed like the rail and the rest of the pagoda had been built after the stone was found as the stone appeared to be much too wide to fit into the neat design of the pagoda, stretching out behind it for another metre, and was much more weathered. In the centre was a Chinese symbol surrounded on one side by a monkey and on the other by an angry looking tiger.

"Longevity." Artemis said simply.

"Yes, the symbol does mean longevity. The monkey is meant to drive away evil spirits and the tiger represents power and energy. So basically it means something which is meant to last a long time and is to be protected by power and energy, so that evil cannot get its hands on it. Looks like a stone marking the entrance to me."

"I'll go back for the others." Artemis offered turning back.

"Don't worry, I'll contact them. See if you can find anything unusual about the stone. Hopefully it isn't opened by magic like the needle clue was."

Artemis turned back and squatted by the stone. It seemed normal to him at first, at least the side inside the pagoda did. He wandered out and around to the back carefully as there was only a row of trees one tree thick protecting him from a nice long fall to the bottom of the valley they had been climbing. On this side there was one large symbol of a Chinese unicorn. On either side there were two green discs which looked like they could either be pushed or removed. Artemis decided not to try before the others had joined him. But that didn't take long.

"Artemis you just walk off and leave us worried sick!" Juliet shouted as she ran around the pagoda to join him.

"Juliet, you aren't my mother."

"So?! We are still supposed to look after you at all times!"

Artemis sighed and squatted back down next to the unicorn depiction.

"Foaly?"

"The Chinese unicorn is meant to symbol benevolence apparently. Those green discs look strange have you tried moving them?"

"No. Push or remove?"

"I would say remove and then there might be something behind them."

"Just what I thought," Artemis said finding a flat stone which could be used to pry one of them out. It fell to the floor leaving an impossibly deep looking black hole behind it. Artemis picked up the green disc and turned it over. On the back was a picture of what appeared to be half a scroll. After prying the other disc out Artemis discovered that the other half of the scroll was depicted on this disc.

"So the most benevolent among reach in and take the scrolls." Artemis stated.

"And what happens if we aren't benevolent enough for it?" Juliet asked nervously.

"We will be," Artemis said more confidently than he felt.

"Who among us is the most benevolent then?" Holly asked as she appeared around the side of the pagoda.

"Well," Artemis said smiling, "I think I might have engaged in far too many criminal activities to be benevolent enough for this. Butler has been with me every step of the way and therefore must be discarded along with me. Mulch, well Mulch is Mulch is there any real need for an explanation. Perhaps Trouble has been involved in the least criminal activities, because the rest of us have all broken a lot of rules before, so maybe he should be one?"

"I'll do it if you think I would be the most suitable." Trouble volunteered after a glance at Holly.

"And maybe Juliet should not take part as these tests were designed for fairies not humans, the result may not be the same for her as it would be for Root or Holly. So which of you wishes to do it?" he asked looking up at Root who had arrived out of breath with Mulch.

"Let me do it." Holly offered, "It could be magically draining like the other one was and now that I'm completely healed and refreshed I can spare some magic if I need to."

Root nodded reluctantly and Holly and Trouble took up their positions next to the holes.

"As soon as you feel the scroll grab it and pull your hand straight out," Artemis said, "We don't want a repeat of what happened to Holly." Both fairies nodded.

Holly smiled at Trouble and plunged her hand into the black hole. She felt the scroll just beyond her reach and used magic to somehow call it to her. She pulled her hand back out of the hole with the scroll clutched tightly in it. Trouble pulled his out momentarily after hers and collapsed onto the ground, dropping the scroll.

"I'm alright." He said sitting up, "It just took some magic to call the scroll."

Holly nodded. She felt very drained and assumed that Trouble must have topped up his magic very recently to be feeling the same as her and to not be completely unconscious.

"What does the scroll say?" Holly asked passing her end to Artemis.

He took Trouble's end from the ground and put the two together gently unrolling them.

"It's a map." Artemis said, "Not a big map, it just has the stone in the middle, here," he indicated to the others who had all crowded around him to examine the map, "Then it shows five different marks all with feet leading up to them. I suppose these must be pressure points or something. I'll count out the steps," he said standing next to the stone and looking at the map.

"They're fairy footsteps," Holly said standing up, "Tell me which way to go and I can indicate where people should stand."

She stood next to the stone and followed Artemis' instructions using the compass inside her helmet.

Finally, when Root, Mulch, Trouble and Artemis had been positioned, Artemis being the closest to a fairies weight out of the three humans, Holly positioned herself on the final spot. There was a loud grinding noise and the stone slid away from the group into the pagoda. Below the stone a staircase was revealed heading into the depths of the earth.

"I'll wait here then." Trouble said sadly when no one spoke.

"Right," Root nodded, "Let's go." He said as he walked onto the first step more confidently than he felt and led the way down the stairs, into the waiting darkness below.

* * *

**A/N:** Next chapter soon I hope :D


	13. X34

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter :D

* * *

**Chapter 13: X34  
**

Root finally hit the bottom step and emerged into a small chamber. The lights from his helmet managed to light most of the room and he could see ornate archways leading off to the left and right and on the wall in front of him there was some writing. The others emerged quickly behind him and they gathered around the carving.

"Left or right, does not matter which you choose, as both will lead to your demise," Root read.

"Well that's nice! They just assumed that…" Juliet replied.

"From my research," Foaly said cutting off Juliet, "the way that Mulch needs to go is right as that is where his talents are most needed. So Butler, Mulch and Julius…"

"Don't call me Julius!"

"…as I was saying, Julius, will be heading that way," Foaly continued defiantly, "Which means, the others head left."

They all muttered their assent, except for Mulch who didn't have an LEP helmet.

"What's going on?" he asked, somewhat annoyed.

"We're going right," Butler said simply.

"Well this is goodbye for now then," Root said solemnly, "Good luck."

"You too," Holly said, awkwardly reaching over to quickly hug Root.

"Remember what I…" Butler started.

"Yes, I remember," Juliet said hugging her brother.

"Be careful," he said hugging her back.

"Don't think I'm about to hug you Mud Boy," Mulch muttered to Artemis.

"Like I would ever hug you," he replied rolling his eyes, "Let's go."

He headed towards the left archway. The others quickly parted company and headed in their separate directions.

Butler took one last glance back at his sister and Artemis and knew that if he had to entrust Artemis' safety to anyone else (which he still didn't like) it would be his sister, but at the same time he hoped that she would remember to look after herself as well.

* * *

Artemis peered into the semi-darkness of the passageway they had started down only minutes before. Suddenly they came upon a split in the path.

"Which way?" Juliet asked.

"Foaly?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find anything out about inside the maze it was kept a secret. I was lucky enough to find out how to get there."

"Great," Juliet muttered, "So now we just have to wander around aimlessly."

"Yes," Artemis said, "However, I'm sure we'll be able to tell if we're going in the correct direction."

"How?" Holly asked raising her eyebrow sceptically.

"Well the correct way is likely to have the most traps to prevent intruders from reaching the treasure."

"Which way then," Juliet asked impatiently.

"Left, come on," Holly decided and started down the left path followed by Juliet.

"Wait," Artemis said.

"What now!" Holly asked, "We can't hang around here all day!"

"I was just going to say," Artemis said deliberately slowly, "We should mark the path that we came down and the one that we go down so that if we end up going in circles we will know."

Holly sighed knowing Artemis was right.

"Fine."

Artemis smiled his vampire smile and looked around to find something to mark the walls with. He found a stone and on the wall that they came from scratched an X and on the wall of the path they were going down scratched an X with a 1 next to it.

"That way we will know how far back we have come depending on the number of the passage," he explained, "Now we can go."

He walked down the path past Holly and into the gloom.

"Now we can go," Holly mimicked under her breath and followed Artemis.

Juliet smiled and followed at the back of the group.

* * *

Mulch, Root and Butler had taken up the same system of marking the paths after Foaly had told them about Artemis using it. After what seemed like hours, they were walking into a chamber when they stumbled upon their X16.

Butler sighed.

The last one they had marked was X33 so they had come back a considerable way. This particular chamber had five passages leading from it. The one which they had just appeared from, the one which they had come down last time and X33 were useless, so they decided on one of the other two at random. Butler marked it X34 and they headed down it. Surprisingly, they wandered down the passage for a few minutes and hadn't yet discovered another chamber. The other chambers had all been relatively close together so it seemed strange to Butler.

"I don't like this," Butler said, "We are heading down a long single passage, so it feels like a trap. Be careful."

Root and Mulch nodded simultaneously.

They cautiously examined all of the stones and walls whilst they walked. Each was silent in concentration to ensure that they found a safe path. Then suddenly there was a rumbling noise from somewhere ahead of them.

"Do you hear that?" Root asked quietly.

"I think I stood on something," Mulch admitted sheepishly and moved back indicating a stone which had sunk slightly into the floor.

"It's getting closer," Root said.

"Run!" Butler shouted.

All three turned and ran back towards the chamber.

_Of course, lead us so far we can't escape, _Butler thought as he ran for his life, _I can't believe I didn't see that coming. I really am getting old._

The rumbling seemed to get closer and closer even as they ran at full speed.

Then Butler showed that even though he was old prematurely he was still in shape and reached the chamber quite far ahead of his smaller and less athletic friends. He skidded to a halt and moved out of the mouth of the passage. Carefully he then peered back down the passage to search for the others. Root and Mulch were level and not too far away, but directly behind them in the last stretch of passage and catching up fast was a massive boulder which there was no visible way around. Their only hope was to reach the safety of the chamber.

"Quick!" Butler shouted.

* * *

Meanwhile above ground Trouble was still guarding the pagoda and patiently waiting for the others to return. He walked around to the stairs and peered into the darkness, but he couldn't see further than the first few.

"Looking for someone?" a voice said behind him and he turned swiftly pulling out his Neutrino.

_I thought I was shielded,_ he thought in the moment he turned around.

Immediately he saw why he could be seen. There were three figures in front of him. Two were fairies; he recognised them immediately as Grub and Chix, the other was a Mud Man. He pointed his gun at the Mud Man, thinking that perhaps he was a prisoner of the others, but then he noticed the he had an LEP helmet.

"What's going on Grub?" he asked, still keeping his weapon pointed at the man.

"Chix and I were sent to help."

Trouble didn't lower his gun, something still wasn't right.

"They weren't sent Trouble." Foaly said in his ear. "And that man is Jon Spiro. He's no friend of the Fowl boy or the fairies."

"What's really going on Grub?" Trouble asked again, keeping himself in front of the entrance.

"Move little thing," Spiro said reaching for his own gun.

"Please Trouble, we don't want to hurt you," Grub said, a hint of worry in his voice.

Spiro fired at Trouble whilst he was distracted talking to Grub. Trouble had seen it coming though and jumped away from the entrance towards the thin layer of shrub. Chix took that moment to jump on Trouble and pin him down, with the help of Grub who confiscated Trouble's gun, they picked him up and held him as he struggled. Spiro slowly walked over.

"There's no need to hurt him," Grub said, a hint of pleading in his voice, "We can just tie him up."

Spiro reached them and looked down at Trouble, a grin spreading on his face.

"Goodbye little man," he said and pushed Trouble out of the grip of Chix and Grub.

He wobbled in what would have been a comical manner, had he not been on the edge of a cliff.

"No!" Grub shouted reaching for his brother.

But he reached out too late and Trouble toppled over the edge and fell towards the valley below.

* * *


	14. Barred Doors and Vanishing Floors

**Chapter 14: Barred Doors and Vanishing Floors**

Root and Mulch simulataneously dived out of the way of the pursuing boulder into the corners of the chamber. It sped past their fallen forms and continued down a passage opposite.

"Is everyone alright?" Butler asked pulling Root to his feet.

Both Root and Mulch managed nods.

"Foaly?" There was no response, "Foaly!" Root said turning slightly red. There was still no response.

"Foaly!" He finally gave in and shouted, turning his famous beetroot colour.

"Julius, we've got trouble," Foaly suddenly said, "Chix, Grub and Spiro appear to be on your trail and Spiro pushed Trouble into the valley outside. He's unconscious and his magic is barely keeping him alive because he used most of it up getting the scroll. He needs someone else's magic. Fast."

"So we need to get a move on," Butler commented dryly.

"Why?" Mulch asked, "You should have just given me a helmet Julius!"

"Don't call me Julius! We need to hurry, Trouble is badly injured."

"Stupid fairy! How did he manage to injure himself when he was just sitting around?!"

Root raised an eyebrow and spoke to Mulch the way an adult would to an ignorant child.

"Chix Verbil, Grub Kelp and the human Spiro, pushed him over the edge of the cliff. Apparently they are the bad guys."

"Weird combination," Mulch muttered.

"Foaly?"

"Still here."

"Tell the others that there is a rogue boulder on the loose."

"Gotcha," Foaly said and disconnected to speak to the others.

After a moment of composing themselves they headed back down the path which the boulder had pushed them from. Instead of walking beside one another they decided on single file and Root, who was walking at the front, carefully checked the pathway before them. Cautiously, much more so than the last time, they advanced. Finally they reached an ornate door. It was surrounded by a wooden frame, reminiscent of the pagoda outside. In the centre there was a hole surrounded by Chinese symbols.

"Where did the boulder come from?" Mulch asked.

Root and Butler shrugged.

Root moved towards the door to examine the hole.

"Don't put your hand in!" Foaly said suddenly appearing again.

"We weren't about to," Root muttered.

"This is where Mulch comes in," Foaly continued.

"Mulch, get to the other side of the door," Root instructed.

"Urm, in case you hadn't noticed, the floor in here is covered with these massive slabs. How am I meant to get past them?"

"Can't you move them?" Foaly asked.

"I can try," Butler said walking over to the edge of one of them.

He slid his fingers under the slab in the small gap between slabs and began prising it upwards. Surprisingly it was very light and Butler was able to move it incredibly easily.

"What about the other side?" Root enquired.

"It should be fine. The original creators of the maze didn't want to waste their own magic getting to the treasure so they thought of ways to bypass the traps. Hence the very light slab and hopefully the lack of them the other side."

"I see." Root replied.

"See what?"

"The other side is clear, go through and…"

"Open the door. Got it."

Mulch continued muttering that he should have been given a helmet as he unbuttoned his bum flap. The others quickly retreated around a bend in the passageway just to be safe and Mulch disappeared into the earth.

He soon emerged on the other side of the door in a tunnel identical to the previous one, except, just as Foaly had predicted, it did not have any slabs on the ground. He turned to the door which looked exactly the same as the other side. There didn't appear to be any handle or key or keyhole for that matter.

"What do I do?" Mulch shouted to the others through the door.

There was no reply.

"This is what you get for not giving me a helmet," he muttered and continued muttering as he scanned the door and the surrounding walls.

* * *

Artemis, Holly and Juliet continued on in grim silence. Foaly had informed them about Trouble and their pursuers and that a boulder could run them down at any moment.

"Do you hear that?" Artemis suddenly announced breaking the silence and looking worriedly at Holly and Juliet.

"It's the floor!" Juliet shouted, "Get back!"

They all stepped back and the floor in front of them crumbled away revealing row upon row of glistening spikes, stretching as far as they could see.

"Couldn't we just drop down and walk in between them?" Juliet asked.

"We can if we have to," Artemis replied.

"But even their edges are sharpened," Holly said examining the gleaming metal, "it will be painful."

She reached down and touched one of the spikes. Simultaneously it pricked her finger and the same magic force which had drained her already on numerous occasions ran through her.

"I can't go down there," she said grimacing, "and I barely touched that spike and it pricked my finger so I don't think you would want to go down there either."

"Any suggestions Foaly?"

There was no response.

"Foaly!"

"Everyone wants a piece of Foaly. The others wanted help opening a door so I told them…"

"Foaly! What do _we _do?"

"Oh, right. Yes, this is one of the traps I already knew about. The one that Butler wouldn't fit through, so..."

"We can't walk through them before you suggest that," Holly interrupted.

"I wasn't going to. Stop interrupting me!" Foaly said, the hurt evident in his voice, "Look on the wall to your left."

All three turned and scanned the wall.

"What _exactly_ are we looking for?" Artemis enquired sceptically.

"Well a button of some kind like…There!"

"My ears!" Juliet complained.

"Holly, don't move. You see in front of you, that little brick?"

"Here?" Holly said running her fingers over a slightly raised stone.

"Push it."

Holly tentatively pushed the button and a large stone to the left of them slid back into the wall. Holly peered into the hole.

"That will lead all the way to the other side."

"We have to crawl through here?" Juliet asked peering in herself.

It was just big enough to crawl through, Foaly was right, Butler never would have fitted. From her helmet light Juliet saw the passage began to veer right until she assumed it ran parallel with the spiked pit.

"I'll go first," Holly volunteered, a look of determination spread across her face. Juliet and Artemis decided it was best not to argue.

She lent into the small gap and pulled her legs up behind her.

"You next," Juliet said to Artemis, "I have to make sure you're alright after all."

Artemis nodded and slipped into the hole. Holly was already crawling away around the bend.

"Holly wait," Artemis said struggling to pull himself towards her in the awkward space, "You don't know what we'll find on the other side." Juliet pulled herself in behind him.

"I'm perfectly fine Artemis. Don't worry about me," she said and began to crawl away again.

"But I do," Artemis muttered quietly under his breath so that Holly couldn't hear, as he began the uncomfortable crawl behind her.

_He calls himself a genius! He didn't even remember that we all have our helmet mics on! _

Holly shook her head slightly which was difficult in the confined space, but despite her negative thoughts a grin spread on her face.

* * *

Grub raced down the steep slope to the bottom of the valley, hoping that Trouble was alright.

_It wasn't meant to be like this. We were just meant to make our wishes; no-one was meant to get hurt. Especially not Trouble! What will I say to Mummy if he's not alright?  
_

He spotted the crumpled figure of his brother nestled in a pile of rocks. He had decided to attempt to save him, how could he have done anything else? The others had descended into the maze, but he couldn't leave his brother dying, or maybe he was already dead! He quickened his pace and stumbled a few times in his haste. He reached Trouble and was relieved to find that he still had a heartbeat.

_I have to heal him. But first…_

He removed Trouble's helmet and put it on his own head.

"Foaly?" he said.

There was no response.

_Maybe it's broken._

"Foaly?"

"Grub? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. I…"

"What's going on, why were you with Spiro? No, that can wait! Save your brother!"

"Foaly listen to me you have to stop her."

"Stop who? Why aren't you helping Trouble?"

"I'm about to heal him, but first I had to tell you to stop her Foaly, otherwise there won't be anything we can do…"

"Grub!" Foaly shouted, "Who! Who are you talking about?"

"Opal. Opal Koboi."

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the lateness of updates again, there's no excuse! :D


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